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THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION 
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING 

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EDUCATION IN 

THE MARITIME PROVINCES 

OF CANADA 



BULLETIN NUMBER SIXTEEN 



1922 



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EDUCATION 

IN THE MARITIME PROVINCES OF 
CANADA 

BY 

WILLIAM S. LEARNED 

AND 

KENNETH C. M. SILLS 




NEW YORK 

THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION 

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING 

522 FIFTH AVENUE 

1922 






EDUCATION 

IN THE MARITIME PROVINCES OF 
CANADA 

BY 

WILLIAM S. LEARNED 

AND 

KENNETH C. M. SILLS 




NEW YORK 

THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION 

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING 

522 FIFrH AVENUE 

1922 



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D. B. UPDIKE • THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS • BOSTON 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE vii 

I. THE MARITIME PROVINCES 3 

II. GENERAL EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS — THE COMMON 

SCHOOLS 6 

Elementary Education 7 

Secondary Education 9 

Financial Support of Public Education 10 

III. HIGHER EDUCATION 11 

Standards of Admission 11 

Conditional Admissions 13 

Institutions for Higher Education 14 

IV. A SUITABLE POLICY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF 

EDUCATION IN THE MARITIME PROVINCES 29 

The Common Schools 29 

Higher Institutions 30 

Hopeful Features in the Situation 31 

Modern Requirements of Good Higher Education 32 

Possible Forms of Reorganization 33 

1. Differentiation 33 

2. Selection 33 

3. Confederation 35 
general procedure in carrying out this plan 36 
effect of the plan on student organization 42 
relation of the present institutions to confederation 43 
nova scotia technical college 46 
confederation outside of nova scotia 46 
financing a plan of confederation 48 



PREFACE 

A T various times during the past ten years each of the principal higher insti- 

/ \ tutions of the Maritime Provinces of Canada has applied to the Cai'negie 
•*- -^ Corporation for financial assistance. These applications have always been 
sympathetically received by the Trustees of the Corporation. The educational inter- 
ests of Canada and of the United States are intimately related, and the welfare of 
Canadian colleges and universities properly concerns the people of one country almost 
as much as it does those of the other. 

In spite of the apparent need, a practical policy for aiding this group of small col- 
leges scattered over the coast provinces was not so clear. One college could not fairly 
be considered without the others, and it seemed necessary, finally, to take up the whole 
matter as a single problem. An added reason for this course lay in the fact that many 
invitations, including an official proposal from the Government of Nova Scotia, had 
been received from time to time, suggesting a general enquiry into the educational 
situation in these provinces. 

Without undertaking a formal and extensive "survey," therefore, the Corporation 
invited Dr. William S. Learned of the staff of the Carnegie Foundation for the Ad- 
vancement of Teaching, and Dr. Kenneth C. M. Sills, President of Bowdoin College, 
to visit the Maritime Provinces and the educational institutions there, and to report 
on the situation with a view to suggesting a constructive policy for the treatment 
particularly of the institutions that had applied for aid. These visits were made in 
October and November of 1921, and were duly reported to the Corporation. 

Various proposals for the aid of higher education were discussed with the author- 
ities of the several institutions while the study was in progress, and to each of these 
institutions a copy of the preliminary report was submitted. After careful considera- 
tion the heads of the universities concerned requested a conference with the officers 
of the Corporation at New York. This was held on April 13, and it was made clear 
that in the judgment of these representatives the entire report should be placed before 
their respective constituencies for examination. The Trustees are glad to do this both 
because of their interest in the colleges under discussion, and because they believe that 
the proposals made may have value as a contribution to the treatment of like situa- 
tions elsewhere. 

Inasmuch as the report was prepared in the offices of the Carnegie Foundation, 
which has long been interested in the problem of higher education in this region, 
it is issued in the form of a bulletin of that organization. 

Henry S. Pritchett, 

Acting-President, Carnegie Corporation. 
May 15th, 1922. 



EDUCATION IN 
THE MARITIME PROVINCES OF CANADA 



EDUCATION IN 
THE MARITIME PROVINCES OF CANADA 

I 
THE MARITIME PROVINCES 

THE Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward 
Island constitute a closely related, homogeneous group distinguished from the 
other provinces by the exposure of a long and varied seacoast, and effectively iso- 
lated by the French language barrier of Quebec. After their cession to Great Britain 
all three provinces were for a time under one administration, "The Island," as it is 
generally called, becoming independent in 1773, and New Brunswick, then rapidly 
filling with American loyalists, in 1784. The solidarity of feeling in the group has 
kept the question of maritime union constantly recurring, and it was at a conference 
for this purpose at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in 1864, that the movement 
originated out of which sprang the confederation of the Dominion itself. 

The area of the three provinces together amounts to about 50,000 square miles, 
or approximately the size of New York State, altho even that is only one-fifth the area 
of the next largest Canadian province. But little more than one-fourth (6000 square 
miles) of New Brunswick, the largest province, is occupied, and that chiefly on the 
coasts in close contact with the other two provinces. In Nova Scotia, and especially 
in " The Island," the land is very generally appropriated. 

The population of the group in 1921 showed a total of slightly over one million 
persons, divided as follows as to gross number, gain or loss in the past decade, and 
the number of persons per square mile : 



New Brunswick 


388,092 


Gain 10.29% 


Density 13.8 


Nova Scotia 


524,579 


Gain 6.55% 


Density 24.4 


Prince Edward Island 


88,536 


Loss 5.54% 


Density 40.5 



The people are racially a composite group of predominantly British origin. The 
table on page 4 shows the strength of the various strains. The French are chiefly 
in New Brunswick, and what Germans there are, are gathered in a few counties west 
of Halifax in Nova Scotia. The figures for 1921 are not yet available, but the con- 
ditions shown in 1911 are believed to be true to-day, except that the French have 
probably largely increased in New Brunswick. 

In " The Island " 95 per cent of the population are native to the province, and in 
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 90 per cent. Of the immigrant population from out- 
side of Canada, only 2 per cent, in Prince Edward Island 1 per cent, were other than 
British born. More than one-half of these are naturalized. 

Emigration is a far more important problem for the Maritime Provinces than 
immigration. Disregarding the great numbers that have gone permanently into the 



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THE MARITIME PROVINCES 5 

United States, there are 53,712 natives of the three provinces living elsewhere in 
Canada, more than half of them in the west, and more in British Columbia than in 
any other western province. " The Island " has been the greatest sufferer by reason of 
this exodus. 

In New Brunswick, lumbering and certain allied manufactures, such as wood pulp 
and furniture making, are the important occupations. The fisheries are also exten- 
sive. Nova Scotia has passed from lumbering to dependence upon coal mining, sea- 
going commerce, and manufacture. Iron and steel products and fisheries are next in 
order. Dairying and fruit growing are the important phases of agriculture. The total 
value of all products for 1920 was about two hundred million dollars. In Prince 
Edward Island, agriculture, fox farming, and fishing are the chief industries. 

In all the provinces, a condition of actual prosperity is translated into a feeling of 
comparative poverty for the reason that all the other Canadian provinces have in- 
herited great resources thru the vast extension of their original territory, while for 
the Maritime Provinces there is no opportunity for expansion. It is thus possible for 
Ontario to finance an elaborate educational program without resorting to general 
taxation, while good schools in the Maritime Provinces must be paid for largely out 
of the earnings of the people themselves. The adjustment of this inequality is now 
an issue in Canadian politics, or at least in that aspect of it that especially interests 
the Maritime Provinces. 



II 

GENERAL EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS — THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

IN a society consisting of those races that inhabit the Maritime Provinces one would 
expect a high degree of educational development. The " stock " is as good as can 
be found. Where and to the extent that education occurs, this excellence is plainly 
reflected in the product, but as a system of education, calculated to maintain a high 
level of intelligence among all the people, the arrangements in the Maritime Provinces 
are open to criticism. 

It is probable that the British individualistic tradition plays a large part here. 
Examinations are everywhere, they play a leading part in education, and the selection 
is merciless. Those who pass, proceed, but there is little effort to guarantee that all 
who deserve it are made fit to pass. 

Inasmuch as the conditions in Nova Scotia appear to be fairly typical of the two 
other provinces, the following observations, derived largely from that province, may 
be considered as broadly characteristic of the entire region. The situation in New 
Brunswick is somewhat better in respect to the salaries of public school teachers and 
in certain aspects of their preparation. In Prince Edward Island, conditions are often 
much worse. Here, altho the people are above the average in intelligence, their pro- 
vincialism and insularity, together with a certain depression due to a steadily decreas- 
ing population, have resulted in an educational stagnation that is evident. 

In all of the Canadian provinces, except Quebec, the chief educational authority 
forms an integral part of the government; in the Maritime Provinces the Council 
or Cabinet of the Lieutenant-Governor is the Board of Education when acting on 
educational matters, and its executive officer is the Superintendent of Education, 
appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council — in other words, by the Pre- 
mier. It follows, therefore, that educational policy is a political product: important 
appointees, such as district inspectors, who should be purely educational, are often 
semi-political officials; and educational documents cannot escape more or less of the 
flavor of political orientation. This appears to be the actual result in Nova Scotia, 
altho it is much modified by the fact that one political party, indeed the same admin- 
istration, having been in control for many years, has come to act with considerable 
independence. 

Naturally the effect is to be felt in negative rather than positive forms. Education 
must "keep its place"; an aggressive policy of public taxation for education is thought 
to be out of the question for a body that desires reelection ; the department of edu- 
cation is managed with whatever proposals a cabinet will consider harmless. In other 
words, there is no temptation for the educational authority to resort to an enlighten- 
ing popular agitation and a direct appeal to the people, because it is not in a posi- 
tion to array itself against the government and force thru vital legislation. 

Similarly in all incorporated towns the school authority is a board appointed 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 7 

in part by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council, and in part by the town council, 
usually from their own number. The boards operate smoothly, and usually have an 
excellent personnel, but there is obviously no chance to reach the public with any 
educational question. The one means of fixing the responsibility for good schools on 
the people, where it belongs, is lost. To educate the public is a secondary matter with 
a school board in Nova Scotia, because the public has no power over it. 

These two administrative features are responsible, in very great measure at least, 
for the widespread apathy toward public education in Nova Scotia. It chills one like 
an east wind. "Let the government do it" is the universal attitude, instead of the 
healthy threat to "put in the people who will do it." The complete reversal of con- 
ditions in Ontario is due, it seems, to two factors: first, the government, which con- 
trols education, as in Nova Scotia, has possessed a supply of unearned resources with 
which it could support education without resorting to taxation; and second, the 
incorporated units have regularly elected their own educational authorities, and by 
this constant agitation have made themselves familiar with school needs and respon- 
sible for the results. A third element of possible importance in Ontario is the fact 
that educational matters are entrusted directly to the charge of a cabinet minister 
instead of to a subordinate executive as in Nova Scotia. 

A further circumstance that has permitted this condition to continue in Nova 
Scotia has been the attitude of the colleges. Some active interest was found at Acadia 
and at St. Francis Xavier's; otherwise, so far as the colleges concern themselves, the 
lower schools might as well not exist. For them students are born out of the air at 
matriculation, and little notice is apparently taken either of the educational condi- 
tions thru which they have risen, or the processes by which they have been prepared. 
There is but faint perception of the fact that the university is directly responsible for 
a correct attitude among educated people with reference to the health of the ele- 
mentary and secondary schools as essential parts of the whole fabric of education, 
as well as for contributing a sound training for those who may take charge of such 
schools. 

The reasons for this position seem to be partly a lack of acuteness that takes refuge 
in the trite and irrelevant objection to "pedagogy" in a university, and partly the 
unwillingness of the Provincial Department of Education to recognize any local train- 
ing but its own for an academic license. This policy appears shortsighted under the 
circumstances. It would be a simple matter for the Department to set forth for the 
preparation of teachers in the colleges certain minimum requirements which it could 
maintain thru inspection. Most of the colleges would adopt these, and thus provide 
active centres of much needed support for a constructive educational program. 

Elementary Education 

Conditions in the schools may best be inferred from a few salient facts concerning 
the teachers. 



8 GENERAL EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS 

All teachers who do not attend the one provincial normal college must pass a pro- 
fessional examination. In addition to such training as this necessitates, teachers who 
are given the lowest grade of license (Class D) are required to have passed the pro- 
vincial examination promoting them from the second to the third year of high school. 
Such teachers constitute 43 per cent of the total, and are nearly as numerous as the 
one-room country schools : 1314 Class D teachers, 1589 ungraded schools. They are 
paid, according to the superintendent's last report (1921), an averageof $431 per year, 
including government aid, a marked increase over the average salary of the preceding 
year, which was $333. These and the following averages are for the women only, who 
constitute 93 per cent of the total group. Class C and Class B teachers have, respec- 
tively, three and four years of high school training, including their attendance at the 
normal college, and received $557 and $687 for their year's work in graded schools. 
Teachers with more than four years of training numbered 238 or 8 per cent, and of 
these 59 were university graduates teaching usually in high schools; the remainder 
had had one year at the normal college after completing the twelfth grade, and were 
paid an average of $907. 

Out of the 3089 teachers in 1921, 1598 had attended the single normal college in 
Nova Scotia. Here one year is the maximum curriculum ; some stay for six months, and 
others for four, while university graduates desirous of a license are required to attend 
courses for six weeks. Even the single year's course has recently been divided into 
two half-courses which may be taken with an interval for teaching to earn money. 
The great majority of the students come with less than a complete high school train- 
ing, and many have never seen a genuine high school, having passed the admission 
examinations independently. 

The normal college has excellent teachers and a fair equipment. Its practice facili- 
ties are ample, but the procedure in practice teaching is necessarily absurd owing to 
the brevity of the curriculum : each student, in a group with nine others, teaches for 
a few minutes once in two weeks, the whole performance having little profitable rela- 
tion to the instruction of the children practised on. 

In the rural districts there is said to be a turn-over of 50 per cent of the teachers 
annually. This is probably correct, as one-third of all the teachers have had but one 
year's service or less, and teachers are promoted from lower schools or grades rather 
than from specific training. 

Teachers trained and licensed in Nova Scotia go in great numbers to the western 
provinces, where they are paid salaries of from $900 to $1500. Six hundred Nova 
Scotia teachers are reported from one such province alone, and the normal college 
lists in its annual report 62 of its pupils who preferred to pay tuition rather than 
remain in Nova Scotia to teach for the required three-year period. 



SECONDARY EDUCATION 9 

Secondary Education 

A provincial examination regulates admission to high school and official promotion 
thru each of the successive years. The examination therefore becomes of more impor- 
tance than the school, and there are in the province only nine secondary schools doing 
four full years of work, altho each of the eighteen counties has a county academy. 

But some high school work is done in nearly all of the schools. Thus over twelve 
hundred one-room rural schools profess to offer instruction in the ninth, tenth, or 
eleventh grades. The teacher, unfit as she is, is urged to do this even tho it must ob- 
viously be at the expense of the earlier grades. On this lean tuition boys and girls 
work their way thru text-books and the provincial examinations into college without 
ever attending a high school, and thereby develop enviable habits of initiative and 
industry to compensate for defective instruction. At Acadia University last year four 
out of the seven prize winners were prepared in this manner. 

While the students that issue from this process are exceptional, there is plainly an 
enormous waste of good material. The elimination in the provincial examinations is 
very heavy. In 1921, 1361 out of 3095 candidates, or 44 per cent, failed to pass Grade 
IX; 1331 out of 2406, or 55 per cent, failed in Grade X; 563 out of 1237, or 46 per 
cent, failed in Grade XI; and 107 out of 221, or 48 per cent, failed in Grade XII.Thus 
6959 candidates essayed the examinations, and 3362, or 48 per cent, failed to pass. 

But it appears that during that time in all these odds and ends of so-called "high 
schools" there were 9705 pupils enrolled and at work on high school studies. How 
many of these additional pupils failed to take the examinations because they were 
unprepared, is uncertain; the examinations are voluntary and principals may pro- 
mote without them. Certainly more than 50 per cent either failed in the examina- 
tions, or would have done so had they attempted them. A system that will allow over 
one-half of its secondary pupils to waste their time in work that is fruitless, or that 
must be repeated again and again, is a poor system. Such effort is simply misdirected. 
Emphasis should be placed on the character of the school and on the quality of its 
instructors, and not merely on the examinations. 

Another element that saps more or less of the strength of the public high schools 
in Nova Scotia is the maintenance of extensive academies and seminaries in connec- 
tion with each denominational college. Including those from Nova Scotia who attend 
Mt. Allison in New Brunswick, probably over 1000 students are thus drawn off, while 
the total attendance on the eighteen county academies is only 2200. Advantages for 
music and art for girls, and close supervision for the weak boy are urged in justification 
of these institutions; but it is clear that if the students were placed in the public high 
schools, and if the support of the students' parents, representing the best educated 
group in the province, were placed solidly behind these schools, they would be im- 
mensely strengthened to the advantage of the entire population. 

The spirit and character of the work done in the high schools is impressive. Four 
good institutions were visited in the provinces, two of them in Nova Scotia rather 



10 GENERAL EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS 

thoroughly. In these the scholarship of the teachers was apparently excellent, and 
their instruction was notable for its clarity and force. The students were extraor- 
dinarily attentive and industrious; the effects of hard, accurate, painstaking drill 
were everywhere evident. The program of studies is less elaborate than in the 
United States; there is much less student initiative, less spontaneity, less discussion 
in class; there is also less superficial "smartness" on the part of the students, and 
less concern for student-opinion on the part of teachers; there is much greater thor- 
oughness, closer thinking, more confident knowledge, and more wholesome serious- 
ness on the part of both student and teacher. 

Financial Support of Public Education 

Public education cost Nova Scotia $3,442,545 in 1921. Of this amount $2,370,712, 
or 69 per cent, was raised by local ad valorem taxation on widely varying assess- 
ments in the small local districts. A so-called "Municipal School Fund" is comparable 
to a county tax and amounts to $495,242, or 14 per cent of the total, and the bal- 
ance, 17 per cent, is taken care of by provincial funds, including about $50,000 for 
the state college of engineering at Halifax — the only public expenditure for higher 
education, except the college of agriculture, which is financed in about the same 
amount but by another branch of the government. Provincial funds are drawn from 
the Dominion subsidy, taxes on coal mines, licenses, etc., but not from general 
taxation. 

Calculating the cost of schools in 1921 on the total Nova Scotia population of 
1921, the per capita expense is $6.56. Vermont and New Hampshire, states not un- 
like Nova Scotia, paid $9.22 and $11.32 per capita, respectively, in 1921. According 
to Dominion statistics published in 1921, Nova Scotia pays less per pupil in average 
daily attendance than any other Canadian province, except Prince Edward Island, 
which is notoriously backward. At $31.82 Nova Scotia pays $3 less than New Bruns- 
wick ; the next lowest being Quebec, with its many unpaid clerical teachers, at $46, 
and Ontario at $58. These are the figures for 1919. In 1921 Nova Scotia had raised 
her cost per pupil on this basis to $47.04, which is a good stride forward. Figures for 
the other provinces are not available, but would doubtless show similar increases. 

It may hardly be doubted that, if the Provincial Education Department pursues 
a policy of vigorous public enlightenment and agitation, and if the higher institu- 
tions, that now seem blind to their stake in the situation, lend their hearty support, 
the salaries of Nova Scotia teachers can be greatly increased without perceptible 
inconvenience, and the schools be lifted out of their present feeble condition. 



Ill 

HIGHER EDUCATION 

WITH the exception noted above (Nova Scotia Technical College) and the 
modest support required for the brief courses of the agricultural college, all 
higher education in Nova Scotia depends upon private funds. This has been the case 
since 1881, when an annual government grant of $1500 to each college was very prop- 
erly withdrawn, the government having no control over its expenditure and being 
unable to regulate competition. 

Before proceeding with the higher institutions individually, notice should be taken 
of certain relations existing between the colleges and secondary institutions of the 
Maritime Provinces. 

Standards of Admission 

Admission to college is regularly based upon the eleventh school grade instead of on 
the twelfth, as is the practice in the United States. Whether this difference entails a 
difference in subsequent collegiate attainment of like magnitude is an interesting 
problem, which could not be determined conclusively on so brief examination. 

While a twelfth grade is given only in some eight or nine high schools in Nova Scotia, 
its subjects are accepted in lieu of freshman studies in so far as they correspond and 
if the grades are sufficiently high. "Low pass " work from the twelfth grade is accepted 
for matriculation while " high pass" work is required from the eleventh grade. Thus 
twelfth grade Latin, passed with a mark of 40, counts for matriculation only, but if 
passed with a mark of 50, it may count in lieu of freshman Latin. 

It was of special interest to compare the achievement of these twelfth grades in two 
of the best high schools of Nova Scotia — Truro and Halifax — with similar work in 
schools in the United States. After observing the students in several classes one be- 
came clearly convinced that, on the whole, their performance was but slightly, if any, 
more deserving of college credit than is that in senior high schools below the border. 
In mathematics they are undoubtedly better trained, owing to the great emphasis 
placed on this subject. In Latin they know the grammar more thoroughly as gram- 
mar, and are disposed to seek more carefully a nice English equivalent in translation, 
but they have read far less of the literature, and seem to know less about the people 
who used the language. In history and English literature they have been definitely 
and accurately taught, but here their knowledge seems more or less formal. They 
display little evidence of collateral reading, seem to have almost no first-hand expe- 
rience with a library, and show small inclination for independent discussion and judg- 
ment — all of which are fairly characteristic of work done by high school seniors in the 
United States. The schools had no physics laboratories, and no work was observed in 
chemistry, altho there were laboratories equipped for it. There is no work in biology, 
in general science, in elementary social or political science, or in economics. 



12 HIGHER EDUCATION 

The omission of a year in high school might prove of less importance if the pupils 
were of an advanced age, but the median age in the twelfth grade at Halifax in 1921 
was 16 for girls and 17 for boys, and in the preceding year it was 16 years, 8 months 
for both. There were several at 15 years of age, and some at 14. In the annual report 
of the Superintendent of Education for 1920, the average age of the twelfth graders 
in one county is 15 years, in three counties 16 years, and elsewhere 17 years. This is 
certainly young as an average age for college freshmen. 

Actually, students in general do not enter college at these ages in Nova Scotia. 
Only at King's College is the age of the entering class in the current year as low as 
17 years; at Mt. Allison it is 18 years, at Acadia 19 years, at Antigonish 19 years, 
and at Dalhousie slightly under 19 years. These figures are not far from those of 
neighboring colleges in the United States. Colby College, Maine (coeducational), 
admits at 18 years, 6 months, and Bowdoin (men only) at about the same age. But 
the reason the ages are not lower in Nova Scotia is not because the candidates are 
doing twelfth grade high school work, as in the United States; it is apparently be- 
cause, in a predominantly rural population where high school facilities are but indif- 
ferently organized, the rate of preparation is slower. And it is really slower than ap- 
pears from the above quoted ages, for more than half of the admissions are attended 
by one or more entrance conditions, as will be noted below. 

The conclusion, therefore, from such observations as could be made, is that admis- 
sion to college in the Maritime Provinces is effected on an attainment nearly, if not 
quite, one full year below that required for college in the United States. The colleges 
require exceptional ratings, to be sure, on the provincial certificates, but the same 
is true very generally of high schools in the United States that send their pupils to 
college on certificate. 

Even tho admission requirements are essentially lower, it need not necessarily fol- 
low that the collegiate accomplishment in four years is correspondingly less. It would 
require careful investigation to settle this question, but there are few indications 
that it should not be answered in the affirmative, at least with reference to the "pass 
man" as compared with the average college graduate in the United States. 

But the men who have determined the reputation of the colleges in the Maritime 
Provinces have not been "pass men." In practically every course at Dalhousie, for 
example, there are three classes of honors above the " pass " group, and the same 
general scheme of honors obtains elsewhere. Graduates from these courses are the men 
who go elsewhere to study. At Harvard University, out of 27 candidates for the mas- 
ter's degree who have come directly from Acadia, Dalhousie, Mt. Allison, or New 
Brunswick Universities, 17 have taken the degree within a year after their arrival. 
At Yale, where the relations with Acadia University have long been unusually close, 
the authorities of the Graduate School speak in superlative terms of the quality of the 
Acadia men. These, however, have usually taken the senior year at Yale after graduat- 
ing from Acadia, thus clearly indicating the relative status of the two institutions. 



CONDITIONAL ADMISSIONS 13 

A somewhat different type of testimonial appears in the fact that no fewer than 
seven students from the department of mathematics at Mt. Allison University now 
hold full professorships in as many leading universities in Canada and in the United 
States, one of them being the present president of the American Mathematical Society. 

There can be no doubt that these honor men compare favorably with the success- 
ful college graduate in the United States who has studied a year longer, and that 
their treatment in Canadian colleges has an instructive value in the matter of reduc- 
ing the time and improving the product of a college education. 

For the very reason that their present record is so good, one would like to see the 
Maritime colleges, in justice to their students, bring their general standards to a 
parity with those of their neighbors in Canada (Ontario) and in the United States. 
The introduction of a full twelfth grade into the requirements for admission would 
greatly strengthen the tone of all the work done, while the best students could con- 
tinue to shorten their course as now. 

Conditional Admissions 

A further important feature of the secondary and collegiate relations in the Mari- 
time Provinces appears in the extensive use made of partial admission in contrast to 
what is usually considered good practice elsewhere. 

At Dalhousie, matriculants are allowed to enter conditioned in as many as three 
(rarely four) out of the eight subjects required, and preparatory classes are conducted 
by university instructors in languages and mathematics for the benefit of these stu- 
dents. The records of three classes are available: in 1907, 70 per cent of the fresh- 
man class entered with conditions; in 1920, 56 per cent, and in 1921, 53 per cent 
were conditioned. From 1910 to 1918, 209 students entered on conditions. Of these 
90 graduated in arts, and one-third of them took five years or more to do it. Only 
five of those who actually graduated in arts had as many as three conditions, while 
of the remainder more than one-third had three conditions; 36 dropped out, and the 
others proceeded to different professional schools. 

Owing to this heavy drag of conditioned students, it happens that over 60 per cent 
of those completing one full year's residence have done less than one year's work, or 
five "classes"; 74 per cent of those in residence for two years are behind; this is cut 
to 35 per cent in the third year residence group, owing apparently to elimination at 
this point due to retardation; and there are now in their fifth year students who will, 
if successful, compose at least one-fifth of the graduates in 1922. 

The situation at the other colleges is much the same. Acadia admitted 54 per cent 
of its entering class in 1921 with from one to three conditions ; King's conditioned 
one-fourth of the class, invariably in Latin ; and Mt. Allison nearly 40 per cent. All 
of these institutions provide classes where the work can be made up. 

The reason usually advanced for conditional admission to college in Nova Scotia 
is that of defective secondary schools, and many cases may doubtless be thus explained 



14 HIGHER EDUCATION 

and justified. But the practice appears to go far beyond justifiable limits. Unwill- 
ingness to risk a student's choice of another college by requiring that he complete 
his preparation is naturally a part of it, but the chief explanation seems to be sim- 
ply long habit and the failure to realize the damage involved alike to the college, to 
the secondary school, and to the student in permitting these provisional relationships 
to multiply where the standing should be "clean and clear." A rigorous policy in 
this regard, honestly enforced, has proved a boon to numberless institutions wher- 
ever it has been tried, and serves as a stimulus to the high schools that should not 
be denied. 

Institutions for Higher Education 

The educational institutions of the Maritime Provinces cannot be understood 
apart from the denominational religious life which created and which still definitely 
fosters them. Undisturbed by foreign immigration and maintaining a conservative, 
chiefly small-town and rural life, the people are thoroughly denominationalized, only 
a small fraction of one per cent of the population giving no specific religious affili- 
ation in the census. Furthermore, these various groups form the best understood and 
most actively motivated social organizations in a small town regime, and wield rela- 
tively much larger influence than in large cities. People, including the men, go to 
church. 

In view of these apparently diverse religious affiliations, it is of interest to observe 
the remarkable progress of the movement for church unity in Canada — particularly 
since the war. In fact, the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists have 
already enacted the essential preliminaries for declaring themselves one body, and 
are delaying only in the wise endeavor to convince and win over the largest possible 
proportion of each group. The Anglicans, on the other hand, with the traditions of 
the established Church of England behind them, could hardly be expected to come 
in ; and the Baptists, with the freest organization of all, still stand aloof. 

The Catholics, — English, Scotch, and Irish, — altho religiously independent, ex- 
hibit a distinctly cooperative attitude in matters of education. Indeed, there appear 
to be, as one might expect, more significant differences in educational affairs between 
the French and English-speaking Catholics in the Maritime Provinces, than between 
the latter and their Protestant neighbors. 

Numerically, the Catholics are the strongest single religious factor in the Maritime 
Provinces, with 35 per cent of the total population. They are most numerous in New 
Brunswick (41 per cent) because of the French, and least numerous in Nova Scotia 
(29 per cent). They and the Anglicans appear to be growing slightly in numbers, 
relative to the other denominational groups. The Presbyterians come next with a total 
of 19 per cent; they have 22 per cent in Nova Scotia and half that proportion in New 
Brunswick. The Baptists have about the same general proportion, but are much 
stronger in New Brunswick. Anglicans number 13 per cent, and slightly more in 



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16 HIGHER EDUCATION 

Nova Scotia, while the Methodists have about 11 per cent well distributed. These 
five groups constitute nearly 97 per cent of the population; the next group in size 
would be the Lutherans with fewer than one per cent. It is evident, therefore, that 
in a community organized throughout on denominational lines, as this is, any move- 
ment or institution backed whole-heartedly by these five bodies would make as com- 
plete an appeal to all the inhabitants as possible. 

Against this background of common religious aspiration amid diverse ecclesias- 
tical forms may be set, in the order of their establishment, the individual educational 
institutions that have contributed to both. 

The University of King's College was founded by loyalists from the American col- 
onies in 1789, and was endowed with university powers by royal charter in 1802 — 
the oldest colonial university in the British Empire. It is located at Windsor, Nova 
Scotia, a short distance from Halifax (47 miles), and a few miles (18) from Wolfville, 
the seat of Acadia University. The campus covers about seventy acres of attractive 
property on the edge of a town of 3500 population, and the total value of grounds 
and buildings is estimated (since the fire in 1920) at about $250,000, altho most of 
it would probably be quite unsalable. 

The government of the institution has been lately revised in an endeavor to unite 
the two schools of thought in the Anglican body to which it belongs, the college 
having been heretofore considered to be not entirely representative of both groups. 
The governors are now chosen, eight by the Synod of Nova Scotia, eight by the Synod 
of New Brunswick, and ten by the alumni. All are expected to be adherents of the 
Anglican Church. The two bishops and the president, also an Anglican, are members 
ex ojfficiis. Formerly representatives of each deanery in the Maritime Provinces were 
members. Just what effect this new arrangement will have on the union of the two 
parties is difficult to say; cooperation between them still appears to rest on an uncer- 
tain basis. 

At present the university functions, first, in an arts college with 51 men and 22 
women ; second, in a school of science offering chiefly preliminary engineering courses 
for 18 men going later to Nova Scotia Technical College or to McGrill; third, in a 
divinity school with four students ; and fourth, in a law school located at St. John, 
New Brunswick. 

The latter section of the university was established in 1892 thru the initiative 
of some St. John barristers, who offered the school first to the University of New 
Brunswick, which for some reason declined it. The school is a late afternoon and 
evening school conducted by a dozen lawyers, who lecture one hour per week each. 
One or two rooms are rented, as are the privileges of the library of the Barristers 
Society. Court-rooms are also used for classrooms. Charges are about $60 per year 
for 50 to 60 students. The dean is paid $350 by the university at Windsor, which 
is then reimbursed in the same amount from St. John. The balance, after certain 
expenses are paid, is divided among the teachers. There is a three-year course, of 



INSTITUTIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 17 

which the second and third years are given alternately. The personnel of the staff 
seems to be good. Its actual connection with Windsor is slight; the university 
merely provides the machinery for conferring the degrees. 

1 The students in King's College are three-fourths Anglican, the non-Anglicans 
coming in many cases from Windsor itself, which contributes about one-eighth of 
the number. Three-fifths are from Nova Scotia, one-fifth from New Brunswick, and 
nine per cent from Prince Edward Island. As one would expect in a church college, 
the attendance is somewhat more widely distributed than that of Dalhousie. 

The faculty consists, besides a group of lecturers, of nine well-trained men who 
have been connected with the school for from four to thirty years. They are teaching 
from twelve to fifteen hours per week, and receive usually a salary of about $1700 
and a house. Five of the nine full-time men are clergymen, as are four of the re- 
maining seven on the list. 

The operation of the institution has been thrown into confusion by the fire which 
destroyed the main building early in 1920. Classes are now being held in cramped 
and uncomfortable quarters, and most procedure is a makeshift. Nevertheless, the 
student body has stood by the school in a remarkably loyal fashion; the morale of 
the organization is apparently fine. 

With the main building gone, the college has only a chapel, a large convocation 
hall, used now for a dining-hall above and a library below, and a small wooden dor- 
mitory in which classes are held. The library is fairly large, but is not kept up. It is 
open but two afternoons per week, and the most valuable books were found boxed and 
piled near the front entrance for ready recovery in case of another fire. 

The financial condition and outlook of the college are forlorn in the extreme. In- 
vestments amount to $185,000. Other resources bring this figure to approximately 
$200,000, on which the total income last year was $13,000. Student fees (tuition, $85, 
board, $220), together with all other income last year, amounted to $28,418.38, or 
a total of $41,418.38. Outgo for general running expenses, including salaries and 
upkeep of residences, was $47,206.35. The college is about $25,000 in debt. 

Insurance of $48,000 on the building that was burned has been spent in plans for 
a new building, in laying a foundation, and in financing a campaign for more funds. 
This campaign, variously stated to be for $500,000 or for $600,000 or for $1,000,000, 
has been abandoned, after costing $20,000 in expenses and bringing in $140,000 in 
conditional pledges. 

As in the case of most of the denominational schools in the Maritime Provinces, 
King's College is but one end of a triangular organization consisting, besides the col- 
lege, of a girls' secondary school and a boys' secondary school. These are located on 
the college grounds and are flourishing. They are independent and self-supporting, 
and fill a larger place locally than does the college. In fact, both here and at Mt. Alli- 
son, it was plain that the secondary schools were being held back in order to favor 
the college, and that if the college were removed, the schools would attain a more 



18 HIGHER EDUCATION 

vigorous growth. Removal, therefore, would not seriously disturb local vested inter- 
ests which often form much of the real opposition to change. 

Dalhousie University at Halifax is to-day the largest, best equipped, and most 
important institution for higher education in the Maritime Provinces. It was estab- 
lished in 1818 at the instance of Lord Dalhousie, then Lieutenant-Governor of Nova 
Scotia, afterwards Governor General of Canada, out of funds collected as customs 
duties during a seven months' occupation by British troops of Castine, Maine, at 
that time (1814) part of Massachusetts. Its ex-officio trustees for the first twenty 
years were chiefly Anglicans and supporters of King's College at Windsor; conse- 
quently its activities were effectually suppressed. In 1838 Thomas McCulloch, a 
notable Scotch Presbyterian pioneer, came from Pictou County, where he had founded 
an academy, and set the university in motion for a brief period until his death in 
1843. 

The institution had been originally established on the Edinburgh model with a 
basis of religious toleration extraordinary for that day, and as a protest against the 
exclusive policy maintained at King's. But the board of governors, in choosing 
McCulloch's two assisting professors, made the error of excluding, apparently because 
he was not a "Kirk" man, an accomplished Baptist scholar in favor of a much infe- 
rior Church of Scotland candidate for the chair of classics. In protest against this 
the Baptists went to Wolfville and set up Acadia University for themselves. 

In 1863 the university was reorganized, and its original liberal character reappears 
in the offer, at that time, of participation in the government and the choice of the 
incumbent, to any Christian denomination that would endow a chair. The Methodist 
college, Mt. Allison, had been started a few years before, 1858; consequently there 
were left, of the Protestant denominations prominent in Nova Scotia, only the Pres- 
byterians and the Church of Scotland without educational institutions. Altho the 
offer seems to have been made with the hope of bringing several religious bodies 
together, none but these accepted, the former supporting two chairs (during the life 
of their first incumbents only) and the latter, one. The interdenominational dispo- 
sition of the college had been further emphasized shortly before (1856) by the trans- 
fer to it of a Congregational arts college (Gorham) previously operating in Liverpool. 

Since 1863 the university has had a vigorous and healthy life. Its board of gov- 
ernors is essentially a self-perpetuating body, tho appointments to its membership 
are formally made by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council on the nomination of the 
board, and there is a modified alumni participation. It includes representatives of 
several religious groups. The president is an Anglican; thirteen only of the staff of 
thirty-four are Presbyterians, nine are Anglicans. The fact that the Presbyterians 
have no arts college of their own largely accounts for the religious affiliation of the 
student body, of which 48 per cent are Presbyterians (51 per cent of the undergrad- 
uate students in arts and sciences). This fact, together with the presence in close con- 
nection of Presbyterian College, a theological school, and the constant assertions 



INSTITUTIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 19 

of other colleges, seems to have given Dalhousie the popular reputation of a church 
college against its will and its liberal traditions. 

The university operates (1922) with the following departments and student 
strength: 



Faculty 


Men 


Women 


Total 


Arts and sciences 


239 


144 


383 54% 


Commerce 


15 


3 


18 2% 


Pharmacy 


25 


4 


29 4% 


Law 


77 





77 11% 


Medicine 


128 


13 


141 20% 


Dentistry 


62 


2 


64 9% 


Total 


546 


166 


712 100% 



The faculty of law dates from 1883, the faculty of dentistry from 1908, and the 
medical and pharmaceutical faculties in their present organizations from 1911, altho 
the university has had some connection with medical instruction or examination since 
1868. A considerable group of instructors in the professional schools are at present 
on a full-time basis, and laboratory and clinical facilities have achieved an organiza- 
tion that is exceptional. 

The manner in which, in the past few years, Dalhousie has developed its medical 
school is highly praiseworthy. It has cooperated with the city and province in a most 
practical and efficient manner, and has secured from a group of hospitals now cen- 
tred about the medical school the concessions necessary to assure the privileges 
that a teaching medical staff ought to have. It is an indication that the authorities 
of the university can handle important questions involving cooperation and conces- 
sions in a broad-minded and progressive way. 

The student body is at present predominantly local: one-third (34 per cent) are from 
Halifax and vicinity, 82 per cent are from Nova Scotia, and 94 per cent are from the 
Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland, only 6 per cent coming from New Brunswick. 
In the college of arts and sciences taken alone, the local character of the attendance 
is, of course, still more marked : 40 per cent from Halifax and vicinity, 86 per cent 
from Nova Scotia, and 96 per cent from the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland. 

The faculty appears to be admirably trained. Five out of thirty, in the faculty of 
arts and sciences, hold degrees from universities of the British Isles, thirteen from 
universities in the United States, thirteen from Dalhousie, six from other Canadian 
universities, and five are Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada. With five minor 
exceptions all members of the faculty are men. The faculty of arts and sciences is 
heavily overweighted in the fields of language, literature, and natural science; in 
1920-21 only one person gave instruction in the entire group of historical, politi- 
cal, social, and economic sciences, and one person taught all the psychology and 
philosophy. For 1921-22 one appointment has been made in government and one in 
economics. No courses in education are offered. 



20 HIGHER EDUCATION 

The university procedure was modeled at the outset somewhat on that of the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh, and the tradition still holds. Lectures and quizzes are the 
method. The requirements for a B.A. degree consist of twenty full-year "classes" or 
courses, eight of which are elective. Students are not grouped by "years" except in 
the professional schools. 

The persistence of attendance in the different faculties is as follows: In arts 75 
per cent returned to the university in 1921 or had graduated, altho only 58 per cent 
continued their work in arts. In dentistry 86 per cent returned or had graduated; in 
law 90 per cent; and in medicine 87 per cent. The median age of students entering 
the different faculties in 1921 was as follows: arts, 18 years; dentistry, 21 years; law, 
24 to 25 years; and medicine, 19 years. 

Honors courses of three grades above the ordinary pass group are available in the 
arts faculty in the last half of the curriculum. The standards of performance both 
here and throughout the university appear to be high and well enforced. 

Since 1912 Dalhousie.University has gradually been transferring its home from an 
old site, eight acres, occupied since 1887, to a beautiful, partly wooded, fifty- two-acre 
tract overlooking the Northwest Arm of Halifax Harbor — an ideal location for the 
new university. The old building, surrounded by hospitals, will be devoted ultimately 
to the medical school alone. At present only the new MacDonald Memorial Library 
(32,000 volumes), a commodious science hall, and an arts building are in use at the 
new location. The latter is intended finally for the law school. The permanent arts 
building is constructed only to the first floor, which is now temporarily roofed over 
for a gymnasium. The completion of this building awaits fui'ther funds. 

Up to 1920 Dalhousie possessed approximately $665,000 of invested funds for all 
purposes, and a total annual income of about $1 07,000. For arts and sciences alone 
its invested funds amounted to 8570,000 and its total income to $69,000, of which 
$37,000 was interest, $28,600 student fees, and $3400 miscellaneous. In 1920 its 
financial campaign resulted in receipts of somewhat over $2,000,000, of which 
$1,000,000 was assigned to the medical school. The balance was to be divided between 
endowment and new buildings. With everything paid in, therefore, Dalhousie controls 
an endowment of about $1,600,000, of which somewhat less than $900,000 may be 
allocated to arts and sciences; and it owns two student residences, one a.n admir- 
able new structure housing 120 women, with an eventual capacity of double that 
number, and the other a well-located wooden dormitory for men, together with fairly 
adequate accommodations for the classroom activities of its present student body. 

In connection with Dalhousie University mention should be made also of Presby- 
terian College at Halifax. This is a theological school with four professors and 35 or 
40 students, which in 1863 abandoned most of its work in arts to Dalhousie while 
retaining its own degree in theology. It has an endowment of about $150,000 and 
a total income of about $26,000. 

The importance of Presbyterian College for the immediate problem consists in 



INSTITUTIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 21 

the suggestive organization of its student life. With only a small body of men of its 
own, it possesses and conducts a residence for about 120 students, most of whom are 
boys from Presbyterian homes, who are attending Dalhousie University. Without 
making the religious element obtrusive, it furnishes a fine, wholesome environment 
much like that of a high-class college fraternity in the United States, and in the judg- 
ment of many parents offers the same advantage which the small-town denomina- 
tional college claims for its own. The residence is located in an attractive grove directly 
on the Northwest Arm of Halifax Harbor, where water sports of all kinds are imme- 
diately available. The officers of the college come into personal relations only with 
the great majority of these boys, giving them no instruction, yet it is felt that owing 
to the personality of some of the professors with whom close associations are possible, 
the situation is one of exceptional merit. 

Acadia University is in a somewhat different class from the other outlying insti- 
tutions in Nova Scotia. It has a longer continuous history than Dalhousie; it is supe- 
rior to it in the extent of its immediate library facilities; and in endowment, in num- 
ber of students and of graduates, the two colleges have stood not far apart. Acadia is 
closely affiliated and sympathetic with institutions in the United States, while Dal- 
housie joins McGrill and Toronto in maintaining English traditions and connections. 
It is sound and well managed. 

Acadia started with an academy (1829), as did Mt. Allison. The college dates from 
1838, when the Baptists, feeling themselves to have been excluded from Dalhousie, 
secured a charter for an institution at Wolfville, in spite of vigorous opposition in the 
legislature. Since 1851 the twenty-five governors of the college have been appointed 
by the Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces, and are all Baptists. 

As elsewhere in the Maritime Provinces, except at Dalhousie and the University 
of New Brunswick, the educational scheme at Acadia is a three-fold enterprise : an 
academy, a seminary, and a college. 

The academy assumes to cover in three years the work of grades 8 to 11 inclusive; 
it has about 275 students, of whom 125 are residents. Of the latter, 54 per cent are 
Baptists. In 1921, 21 students went on into the college from the academy. There are 
four full-time teachers, all university graduates, and five part-time teachers, who are 
students in the college. Salaries for full-time men are $1000 and "home." The acad- 
emy conducts a business department in the eleventh and twelfth grades with 90 
students. 

The Acadia" Ladies' Seminary" is a combination music, art, and business school, 
and offers also the usual secondary academic subjects. It enrolled last year (1920-21) 
about 400 students. Three-fourths of its resident students are Baptists. It occupies 
extensive quarters in the heart of the campus, but sends practically no students to 
the college (8 in 1921). A staffof forty persons is listed, and is apparently well selected; 
salaries range from S600 and "home" to 82000. One-third of the proposed million 
dollar fund about to be raised is intended for a new group of seminary buildings. 



22 HIGHER EDUCATION 

Acadia University functions thru (1) a faculty of arts and sciences, (2) a faculty 
of theology, (3) a faculty of applied science, and (4) a faculty of music. The latter 
makes use of the music teachers in the seminary, has no graduates, and would ap- 
pear to have no separate existence. In theology the university in its history has 
not granted over a dozen degrees ; it offers an irregular course for a certificate that 
in 1921 was taken by two students; seven were enrolled in the department in 1921. 
Its instructors necessarily offer regular instruction in the college. The "Faculty of 
Applied Science" handles the work of 76 students, who are taking the first two years 
of an engineering curriculum, and who expect to finish at Nova Scotia Technical Col- 
lege or at McGill University. 

The college of arts and science in 1921 registered 230 students, 88 of whom (39 
per cent) were women. These students are evenly distributed thru the four classes, 
59, 61, 60, 50 (senior). Of the freshmen 32 per cent failed to return this year, and of 
the sophomores 31 per cent; the juniors came back with four exceptions. 

Two-thirds of the student body are drawn from Nova Scotia, one-third of them 
from local and contiguous counties which happen to be predominantly Baptist. New 
Brunswick sends nearly one- fourth, and all other sources about 10 per cent. Fully 
four-fifths of the college students are Baptists; over 10 per cent are Presbyterians. 

Of the 49 graduates in 1921, it may be noted that one- third are studying elsewhere, 
and one-third are teaching. Of the 26 leaving in 1921 with engineer's certificates, 
13 went to Nova Scotia Technical College, 6 to McGill, and one to Queen's. Acadia's 
product until quite recently went almost exclusively to McGill. At present Acadia 
has 13 former students in Dalhousie Medical School and 14 at McGill. 

The faculty of the College consists of twentymen and two women. Eightof them hold 
the doctor's degree (Yale 4, Harvard 2) and eight a master's degree from good in- 
stitutions. Twelve of them are Baptists ; fourteen have been in the institution for five 
vears or more; three for over twenty years. Salaries have just been raised to $2500 
after five years of experience ; new men are to start with $2000. The weekly pro- 
grams of some of the men — 18 to 21 lecture hours — show a heavier load than college 
teachers should carry. 

The departments of instruction display a better balance than is to be found else- 
where in the provinces, including separate chairs for economics, for history, for psy- 
chology and education, for "social service"; also a special lecturer in Canadian lit- 
erature. Rather extensive and apparently excellent courses are given in education — 
the only college in the Maritime Provinces giving such opportunities. 

In respect to physical equipment, Acadia is in good condition, and would be fairly 
comfortable were it not for the recent loss of its main building by fire. The library 
building, tho small, is adequate for present needs. It houses some 45,000 volumes and 
what is said to be the finest collection of Canadiana in existence. All things considered, 
the equipment for teaching science is better than fair, tho it is on too modest a scale 
for a first-class college. The dormitories are modern but insufficient. A fine memorial 



INSTITUTIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 23 

gymnasium has just been added. The college has ample and attractive grounds in the 
town of Wolfville (population 1500), and in close connection owns a farm which is 
profitably managed. The entire establishment gives everywhere the impression of 
thrift and skilful handling. 

Financially, the dormitories, the seminary and academy, and the farm are usually 
self-supporting or better. The trust funds of the college amount to $770,000, its 
salary list to $45,000. It has a debt of $89,000. A proposed endowment fund of 
$1,000,000 which is now in process of collection is designed to increase teachers' 1 sal- 
aries ($400,000), to rebuild the main building ($300,000), and to construct a new 
"Ladies' Seminary" ($300,000). 

The University of Mount Allison was the personal project of Charles F. Allison, 
a resident of Sackville, New Brunswick, and was provided for in his will (1858) to 
supplement an academy established by him in 1843. The institution began work in 
1862, and its history has been continuous since that time. 

The college occupies an attractive location on a hill in the little town of Sack- 
ville, New Brunswick (population 2000), close to the Nova Scotia line, and is geo- 
graphically the ideal point for an institution serving the three Maritime Provinces. 
Ownership vests ultimately in the General Conference of the Methodist Church of 
Canada, which exercises control thru the appointment of 24 of the 42 regents, the 
remainder being chosen by the alumni. 

Under this board of regents are three otherwise independent institutions on the 
same campus: the university, a "Ladies' College," and an academy for boys. The 
academy has an attendance of over 200, of whom 100 are in residence. Tho chiefly 
employing mature university students as teachers, it is well managed. Two-thirds 
of its graduates go into the university. Some 30 university students are making up 
conditions in academy classes. 

The Ladies' College is a secondary school solely, enrolling from 450 to 500 girls, 
almost none of whom ever attends the university, but whose presence is apparently 
a large, if not a dominating, factor among the combined institutions. Forty-six of 
the students are enrolled in university classes as "special students." 

The university operates in three departments: (1) a college of arts and sciences 
enrolling 50 women and 93 men, or a total of 143; (2) an engineering department 
with 52 men taking two years of work preparatory to entering the third year of the 
engineering course at McGill or at Nova Scotia Technical College; and (3) a theo- 
logical department with 12 men combining theology with the arts course. Eleven 
others are taking only theology for a certificate, and are not candidates for a degree. 

This gives a total of 207 students, 70 per cent of whom are Methodists, with An- 
glicans next in strength (10 per cent). The students are drawn somewhat more largely 
from Nova Scotia (39 per cent) than from New Brunswick (35 per cent, Newfound- 
land sends 17 per cent, and Prince Edward Island, 3 per cent. Only 6 per cent come 
from outside of the Maritime Provinces, and only 4 per cent from Sackville. Of the 



24 HIGHER EDUCATION 

27 graduates in arts in 1921, 13 are teaching, and 9 are doing graduate work. The 
students entering as freshmen in 1921 numbered 66, of whom 25 were conditioned 
in one or more subjects. 

The faculty consists of fourteen full-time men and two or three lecturers. They are 
a competent, well-prepared group, with graduate training in London (3), Harvard, 
Boston, Clark, and Toronto Universities. Their work is reasonably assigned, and their 
salaries are from $2300 to $2500 per year; the average tenure is about eleven years. 

As at Dalhousie, the offerings in all the social sciences and psychology are weak, 
and nothing is done in education. As elsewhere in Canada, stress is placed upon 
honors courses and competitive achievement. 

The buildings and equipment of the university are seriously defective. The one 
adequate structure is the men's residence — a well-built, brownstone house for 130 
men. All university activities are crowded into Centennial Hall and a small science 
building. The library (15,000 volumes) is stowed away in several different places, and 
part of it is wholly inaccessible. The biological and geological laboratories occupy 
restricted and unsuitable space in basements. The equipment in physics, chemistry, 
and elementary engineering is probably adequate for present limited purposes. There 
is no residence for university women; these are at present housed in an old hotel off 
the campus in the town. A very commodious and attractive art building containing 
an extensive collection of pictures is used almost exclusively by the Ladies' College. 

The physical situation at Mount Allison is such as to make the erection of at least 
a library, a science hall, and a women's residence imperative if the university is to 
remain where it is. On the other hand, if the university were taken elsewhere, all of 
its buildings could be utilized profitably by the Ladies' College and by the academy, 
which now occupy wooden buildings where the fire hazard is serious. Both of these 
institutions are more than self-supporting, so that the university should be able to 
realize a certain amount were it to relinquish its property. 

Financially, Mount Allison is fairly prosperous. Real estate and buildings are 
valued at $170,000 on an old valuation and would be worth much more to-day. In- 
vestments are close to $430,000. Total earnings for 1920-21 came to about $94,000, 
which left a balance of nearly $4000 even after paying $7000 interest on indebted- 
ness. A campaign for endowment has resulted thus far in pledges for $260,000. The 
income from these will go to liquidate the debt and increase salaries. 

The University of St. Francis Xavier's College at Antigonish,Nova Scotia, dates its 
degree-granting powers from 1866, after the college had been giving instruction for 
twelve years. At first a bishop's college, it acquired an independent board of gov- 
ernors in 1882. As amended in 1921, the act provides for twenty governors : fifteen 
self-perpetuating members, of whom at least seven shall be Catholic priests; three 
representatives of the alumni, and the president and Bishop of Antigonish ex offieiis. 

The university is solely a college of arts and sciences, but a pre-medical group of 
7 men and a pre-engineering group of 15 men may be distinguished; the remainder 



INSTITUTIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 25 

number 140 men and 42 women — a total of 204. Students enter at the average age 
of 19.2 years, often from a two-year high school conducted by the university as an 
academy for the county of Antigonish, or from the Convent of Mount St. Bernard, 
which adjoins the university. 

The faculty consists of about 20 men, all but six of whom are priests. Six hold 
doctor's degrees, one is an agrege from the University of Paris. In general they come 
from excellent institutions and appear to be well trained. Lay professors receive from 
$2000 to $3000. 

The modern development of St. Francis Xavier's dates from 1910, or thereabouts. 
Since that time it has added to the original main building a good science hall, an 
attractive chapel, a men's dormitory, a small library, a gymnasium with a well-built 
indoor skating rink, and a central heating plant. The equipment is fair except the 
library, which is ill-arranged and undeveloped. The college is located on the outskirts 
of a town of 2000 population, and has plenty of room. It owns an extensive farm 
on the opposite side of the town. 

The financial resources of St. Francis Xavier's consist of about $400,000 in lands 
and buildings and $260,000 in endowment, not counting the remainder (about half) 
of a recently subscribed fund of $500,000, which has not yet been paid in. There is 
an outstanding debt of $108,000. Expenses for room and board are low — $240 — 
and the institution has for several years incurred a considerable deficit. In 1920-21, 
before the income on its new endowment became available, this amounted to $33,000. 

St. Francis Xavier's gives the impression of being a very genuine institution. Its 
courses appear sound, and its aims well defined and of high standard. It has a strong 
hold on its denominational supporters, as is revealed in the character of its endow- 
ment fund recently subscribed, nearly all of which was pledged in very small amounts. 
Furthermore, the college has recognized and endeavored in an original and effective 
manner to fulfil its educational obligations to its constituency. It has organized 
and conducts each year a two-months People's School for untrained adults, which has 
been notably successful. Its interest in the problem of providing rural teachers for 
its vicinity takes the practical form of offering scholarships based on service in such 
schools. 

Considering the future, this college is an important institution for English-speak- 
ing Catholics in the Dominion. It represents a type of education that is in sym- 
pathy with good university training everywhere, and on the development of which 
wholesome social relations very considerably depend. 

A sixth institution should be included with the foregoing group, altho it is sup- 
ported wholly by the province, and has other functions besides that of higher educa- 
tion. The Nova Scotia Technical College was authorized at a time when Dalhousie 
University was developing instruction in mining engineering, and each of the other 
colleges seemed likely to attempt an expensive organization for courses in this and 
other fields of engineering. The college is in charge of the Council of Public Instruc- 



HIGHER EDUCATION 



are g,ven i„ the severa] ^ £*££» *«* "P™, the fi Jtwolrs of whi , 
same prerequisites admit to McGffl rrtiv * ° '* tUs Techni ^ ColCe Jth„ , 

Tie institution is well officered and 1'/ ! ", FranCIS Xavie ^ 3. ' ^ 

function, and adheres rigidly to it Th fr^ Gqui PP ed ** is strictlv K ■* , 
and as students are few and fL budget amoun te to about £50 nnn ^ 

^iticism in thelelll Su PerCapitacosts areWh the sT , ° """"^ 

The six colleges just described have T P ^ ^ for s ™ethW still C+ 
selves naturally +/4-1, unave been grouped tno-p+i, i, S m be tter. 

tain oZ ^tt^^^^^^Xl^^ 1 ^^- 

in 1859 bvlc g t „ f ft " "^ charter in » as Enl Co t T ° f *" Bra - 
has had IlZLTS^f IeSisl " tare « 'he ^eS%t "t ^"^ 

provision^ rf JSoSlbtT! eKlUSiVety ^ Stad -* fes and an , 

approximate^ 175 stude t sV s to IT" im0me is ab -t S> W TheT"^ 

department enrolling aq de partments, which arp +„ • here are 

finding a cT^^ £ — , and a o^ ™£ » ■* 

There are 12 ,W™ + J ^ men and a coutnp in ■ a PPned science 

re 1^ instructors receiving f rom «osnn ? ! " en g ln eering with fiO m „ 

. The land and building are v»7 a, Z t0 S2700 ea *. "' 

natural requirements of ftp ! • m ° dest ' is an appropriate J j abor atory 

There are three nil 1 Pr ° VlnCe - PP ro Pnate recognition of the 

-iek, one at Co No^T*'* Nor ^ Schools, one at FrP. ■ * 

J ^ grade of work appropriate to 



INSTITUTIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 



27 



the existing status of the local elementary schools. They are well staffed, and con- 
sidering their limitations, seem to be excellently managed. 

There is an Agricultural College at Truro, supported by the province of Nova 
Scotia and costing about 350,000 per year. Its work is limited to a two-year course 
lasting six months each year and enrolling about 100 boys. Two-week short courses 
bring in 200 to 350 more, and courses of a single week's duration held at seven or 
eight different centres reach still others. A comparatively small number actually 
matriculate and go on to the agricultural schools at Guelph or Ste. Anne de Bellevue. 

The last of the publicly supported schools is Prince of Wales College at Charlotte- 
town on Prince Edward Island. This includes within it the provincial normal school 
already referred to. The "College" is really a secondary school covering Grades X to 
XII. The "Normal School" is its lowest year — Grade X — which all prospective teach- 
ers in the island must attend for at least a few months. The students dwindle from 
about 180 at the beginning of this grade to a dozen in the twelfth gi*ade. The insti- 
tution sends its eleventh grade students to university matriculation, and its twelfth 
grade students to "senior {i.e., sophomore) matriculation"; exceptional and selected 
students are advanced to matriculation in the junior class at Dalhousie on the rec- 
ommendation of the principal. Some of these have led their class at graduation from 
college, and bear witness to the successful selection of the process thru which they 
are put. 

Aside from an Episcopalian boys' school at Rothesay, New Brunswick, owned by 
the Synod of New Brunswick, the remaining privately supported schools are Catholic ; 
they are six in number. The College of Ste. Anne at Church Point, Nova Scotia, and 
St. Joseph's College at Memramcook, New Brunswick, are both largely or wholly 
French. St. Mary's College at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. Thomas College at Chat- 
ham, New Brunswick, are boys 1 schools of not more than junior college grade, and 
Mt. St. Vincent at Rockingham is a convent of the same desci'iption. The last is St. 
DunstarCs at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, which deserves a somewhat fuller 
reference. 

St. Dunstarfs College occupies 300 acres of beautiful land a mile or so from the city. 
It conducts high school studies for 125 boys living in the main building, and college 
courses for perhaps 90, most of whom occupy a "college" dormitory, the only other 
building. The staff is composed of eight priests and one layman, a teacher of English. 

The classrooms and recreation rooms are bare of equipment. There is no scientific 
apparatus of any description for any purpose. There is a small library (5000 to 6000 
volumes) that appears to be used only by the priests. Aside from a brief commercial 
course for a score of boys, classics and mathematics are the staple subjects, succeeded 
by a course in scholastic philosophy. The college has never given its own degree, tho 
recently empowered to do so by the legislature, and it does not intend to do so in the 
immediate future. Its candidates have hitherto taken the examinations and degree 
of Laval University at Quebec. About 30 per cent of the graduates become priests. 



28 HIGHER EDUCATION 

In the midst of a farming community the school has a wonderful chance to teach 
agriculture, but this has not as yet been undertaken. It is the chief English-speaking 
Catholic school in eastern Canada after St. Francis Xavier's. 

There is also at Charlottetown a recently established agricultural and technical 
school that gives short courses of practical instruction in the several branches of agri- 
culture, and in some elementary technical branches. 



IV 

A SUITABLE POLICY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION 

IN THE MARITIME PROVINCES 

The Common Schools 

IT must be clear even to the casual observer that the most serious defects of ed- 
ucation in the Maritime Provinces lie below the college level. A well-trained, 
fairly permanent staff of elementary school teachers, and a better organization of 
secondary school facilities would do more for the people as a whole than any other 
one thing. At present, leaders tend to excuse existing conditions with a sort of fatal- 
istic philosophy: the man of destiny will force his way thru the obstacles, and having 
done so will find that they have made him strong; therefore be not too anxious about 
the obstacles. There is too little appreciation on the part of the provinces of their 
obligation to fit each individual to perform well the duties of an intelligent citizen. 

This obligation can be properly discharged only by the provinces themselves in 
their public and official capacities. The burden of it consists in the adequate main- 
tenance of a staff of competent teachers sufficient to supply every school in the region 
— a necessity that must be frankly faced if a decent and progressive standard of living 
is to be maintained. 

The preparation of these teachers might either be conducted as now in separate 
provincial normal schools, or, preferably, be concentrated in one inter-provincial insti- 
tution located, say, at Moncton, New Brunswick, where a single, well-equipped teach- 
ers college could serve all three provinces admirably on the same cooperative princi- 
ple that once characterized the service of the agricultural college at Truro. 

In either case the training should be transformed. The curriculum should be ex- 
tended to two years, at least one of which now, and presently both of which, should 
be in advance of the twelfth grade, and no student should be admitted with less than 
eleventh grade preparation. For teachers in rural schools it would be found necessary 
for a time to provide a single year of training at the normal school, but towns and 
cities should be encouraged to require formal preparation of their teachers instead 
of promoting them as now solely on the basis of successful experience without basic 
training. 

As is at present the practice in New Brunswick, no candidate should be given an 
elementary teacher's certificate of any sort who has not had some professional train- 
ing at the normal school, tho the period should be not less than one year if based on 
so low a prerequisite as the eleventh grade. 

The crucial aspect of a program of this sort is, of course, financial ; less with refer- 
ence to the cost of training the teachers than of supporting them after they are trained 
and at work. Salaries would require to be doubled in order to attract and retain such 
teachers. At present in Nova Scotia, town and city girls do not become teachers to 



30 A SUITABLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

any extent. The work should be made worth their while. Under existing conditions 
good teachers leave the provinces almost as soon as they appear. They should be re- 
tained. At whatever sacrifice, whether by provincial or by county (not local) assess- 
ments, the money should be raised, for the lasting welfare of these provinces depends 
upon their action in this matter. 

Higher Institutions 

It is evident from the general survey already presented that facilities for higher 
education in the Maritime Provinces are scattered and comparatively ineffective in 
spite of the fine individual performance of scores of teachers. Four of the six leading 
institutions — King's, St. Francis Xavier's, Mt. Allison, and the University of New 
Brunswick — each have less than $500,000 endowment or its equivalent; while the 
two others — Acadia and Dalhousie — have each considerably less than $1,000,000 
for undergraduate instruction in arts and sciences. In fact, the school that comes near- 
est to possessing satisfactory resources for its very limited purpose is no one of these, 
but rather the Nova Scotia Technical College, which is supported by the province. 

The total maximum resources of all five of the endowed institutions, taken to- 
gether, would amount only to something over two and one-half millions of dollars 
for the benefit of a joint total of more than 1000 students. Yet the typical " small 
college" of New England, a college such as Amherst, Bowdoin, or Williams, con- 
fined strictly to curricula in arts and sciences, and doing comparatively little gradu- 
ate work, has in each of the cases mentioned nearly or much more than $3,000,000 of 
endowment for approximately one-half of 1000 students. 

The parallel with New England is suggestive. The Maritime Provinces are in a 
sense the New England States of Canada. Tho figuring largely in the early life of 
the nation, the westward tide of growth is draining them of some of their best 
blood, and leaving them partly forgotten in a geographical pocket. Much the same 
is true of New England except as it is rediscovered in its remarkable collegiate and 
university life and in its unusual provision for summer vacations. Had Lord Dal- 
housie's intention been realized and the educational efforts of Nova Scotia, not to 
mention the other provinces, been concentrated at Halifax, a Scotian Harvard might 
have arisen that to-day would be drawing students from Winnipeg and Vancouver. 
Such compensation would more than repay for losses otherwise. The other policy pre- 
vailed, and now six small colleges doing identically the same work are effectually dis- 
sipating their energies and sacrificing the chief opportunity which the region pos- 
sesses for contributing in a distinguished manner to the life of the Dominion. To 
be sure New England has its strong " small colleges," as has been said. But New 
England has seven and one-half millions of people, besides a dense and intimate 
neighboring population; while the Maritime Provinces count scarcely a million, or, 
with Newfoundland, one and one-quarter millions; and are walled off to the west by 
a different race and language. 



HOPEFUL FEATURES IN THE SITUATION 31 

There would seem to be but one profitable policy for the people of the Maritime 
Provinces to pursue now, namely, to shape the situation to the end that university 
advantages of a first-class character, of a character comparable with those of McGill 
University and the University of Toronto, or of the best New England institutions, 
shall eventually be available for the residents of eastern Canada and Newfoundland. 

Such is clearly not the case at present. The best thing about the existing organi- 
zations is the relatively high character of their personnel ; a selection from the staffs 
of these six institutions would bring together an admirable group of men. But even 
so, the result would be notable rather for its fine personal character than for dis- 
tinguished fitness in particular fields of learning. Many of the present faculties have 
been too devoted and self-sacrificing laborers for a "cause" to acquire or to main- 
tain exceptional scholarship, nor have their opportunities permitted them the travel 
and personal contacts that give significance to the work of exceptional college teachers. 

The situation in point of physical equipment is far worse. There is nothing ap- 
proaching a satisfactory provision for science instruction except the beginnings to 
be found at Dalhousie. The only elements worth mentioning at any of the other in- 
stitutions are the library at Acadia, which is a good start, or would be if it possessed 
larger reading and reference facilities, and the art collection and building at Mt. 
Allison, which could become the basis of good collegiate instruction in fine arts. 

In fact, it must be said that all of these schools except Dalhousie and, to a smaller 
degree, St. Francis Xavier, strike one as something other than genuine colleges. They 
are more properly collegiate institutes. This is due to the fact that they are embedded 
in secondary organizations that divide the attention and interest. This arrangement 
is so familiar to the Nova Scotian that he does not appreciate its weakness. Actu- 
ally it is quite impossible for either Mt. Allison or Acadia, each sharing its campus 
with a "Ladies' Seminary " as large as itself or larger, and filling an important place 
in the popular mind, ever to become the distinctive college organization that it 
could be if it stood alone. Being thus part seminary, part academy, the "college" 
acquires from the general bulk a false importance that it cannot inwardly substan- 
tiate, and its own nature is in turn concealed. 

Hopeful Features in the Situation 

The general situation is by no means hopeless, however, provided the people of 
the provinces will face the problem created for them by modern educational con- 
ditions with the same courage with which they earlier founded and developed the 
present institutions. The youth of the Acadia of to-day has no superior in natural 
equipment; he deserves a thorough, modern education that will carry its own con- 
viction in any part of the American continent; and it will immeasurably deepen his 
love and, yet more important, his respect for his home soil, if he receives that edu- 
cation where he was born. The same fact has also a possibly unsuspected significance 
for the parents. Few things are more depressing to a people than to see children 



32 A SUITABLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

seek elsewhere the instruments of their success, while nothing reacts more surely or 
more quickly in enhancing dignity and self-confidence than the consciousness that 
sons and daughters owe their extraordinary abilities to native training. 

In a community containing from one million to one million and a half of people 
such advantages may be had. McGill University at Montreal serves a Quebec con- 
stituency of less than 200,000 English-speaking Protestant residents. It is clear, 
however, that little can be achieved without cooperation. This was obvious when, 
in 1907, all of the colleges combined to support engineering education at Halifax. 
For each institution to reproduce that elaborate equipment was palpably absurd, yet 
relatively the same condition applies to many other departments that are at present 
set forth in the catalogues. They exist only in name. 

Modern Requirements of Good Higher Education 

The requirements of plant and personnel in providing a good modern university 
education seem fabulous when compared with the equipment of forty years ago. The 
burden of increased expenditures usually assumes one of three forms. Most striking 
is the enormous initial cost of adequate laboratories and apparatus for proper instruc- 
tion in all branches of science. In the physical and biological sciences these needs are 
familiar, but they are only a little less imperative in psychology, in the social sciences, 
and in education. In the Maritime colleges, outside of Dalhousie, the equipment for 
physics, chemistry, and biology is surpassed in very many good secondary schools 
over the country, while the second group of sciences is scarcely to be found at all, 
and nowhere is there any equipment for them whatever. 

Closely allied to the laboratories are the libraries and other indispensable collec- 
tions. None of the " small " New England colleges already mentioned presumes to 
operate with a working book collection of fewer than 100,000 volumes, while the 
presence of professional schools would necessitate large additions to that number. 
Yet the college libraries of Nova Scotia, including duplicates, would scarcely amount 
to so many if combined. Dalhousie, the largest institution, has 32,000 volumes and 
no professional librarian. 

Last, and most important, is the matter of professors' salaries, which constitutes 
the major item of current expense. All that is accomplished in any university is done 
thru the agency of selected men and women, broadly trained, and provided with 
sufficient leisure and compensation to permit them to maintain their training by 
means of travel and study. This cannot be done to-day with a scale of salaries in which 
the maximum falls much below $6000. In the six institutions under consideration, 
however, scattered as they are, the advanced work is done in little groups by men 
receiving maxima of from $2500 to $3500 (exceptionally $5000), and that only as 
the result of recent increases for which the capital funds have not always been 
provided. 

To seek to perpetuate present arrangements, therefore, is foregone defeat. The 



POSSIBLE FORMS OF REORGANIZATION 33 

tendencies to concentration because of large capital outlay and high expenditure for 
personnel are inherent, and there is no indication of a return to the old type of col- 
lege. Nearly every new subject of instruction that is organized appears presently as 
a field for expensive laboratory investigation and practice, and the student must be 
where his tools and data are. 

Possible Forms of Reorganization 

If cooperation is to effect new and better results, it apparently must proceed in one 
of the three following ways : 

1. Differentiation 

It is conceivable that something might be accomplished by a differentiation of 
work among the institutions as they are. Were it a question of professional schools, 
it would adjust itself naturally in this fashion. Applied to colleges of liberal arts, this 
principle would allow to each college an identical freshman year, after which the 
curricula would be parceled out, one college taking all students who were specializ- 
ing in language and literature and giving them only elementary science and history, 
another providing similarly for the social sciences, another for physical sciences and 
psychology, and so forth. More or less duplication would still occur, but each college 
would focus its major resources on a limited field, and seek to provide therein the 
best possible instructors and equipment. 

Under favorable conditions distribution of this sort might prove entirely feasible, 
in spite of the violence done to the traditional liberal arts curriculum. But in the 
present case, in addition to its educational novelty, the scheme cuts directly across 
the denominational sympathies of each institution; the college would lose the dis- 
tinctive feature of its organization for which it is now considered to exist, and could 
scarcely maintain itself at all on such a neutral basis. Add to these the difficulties 
of effecting what would appear to all to be an equitable division of subjects, and the 
plan seems unworkable. 

2. Selection 

The second plan can hardly be called cooperative except as it would look for- 
ward to a result in which all might at some future time participate. By this plan the 
best-located, most promising institution should be selected and developed thru every 
possible aid and assistance to the exclusion of all others. The educational opportu- 
nities and welfare of the future youth of the provinces should be placed frankly above 
the mere maintenance of an equilibrium among existing institutions. 

The choice of a school for this purpose is not difficult. Dalhousie University 
has so many factors in its favor that an outside observer would name it at once, and 
certainly, as with Themistocles, the supporters of every other college would give it 
second place. As noted above, Dalhousie stands independent of secondary attach- 



34 A SUITABLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

ments. By virtue of this single-mindedness and of its allied professional schools, this 
college presents the proportions and scale of a true university, and its conception is 
gradually taking shape in a fashion that discloses a deep-lying vitality. Its medical 
school already has a rarely favorable physical organization and equipment; and its 
other professional schools — the only ones virtually in the three provinces — merely 
await development along lines already initiated. Its new college of arts and sciences, 
which is the core of any real university, is slowly coming into view on an ample and 
dignified plan in a splendid location. 

There is some question as to the advantages of Halifax as a location. Objection 
is directed partly against its inconvenient situation as a servant of all three prov- 
inces, and partly against the evils of a considerable maritime city as a home for col- 
lege youth. 

The geographical objection is, of course, valid primarily with relation to New 
Brunswick. Sackville, the present location of Mt. Allison University, and the junc- 
tion point for Prince Edward Island, would be more generally convenient; yet, on 
the whole, the situation of Halifax is probably no worse than that of Albany with 
reference to New York State. If Newfoundland be taken into account, it is near 
the geographical centre particularly of the English-speaking population. Halifax is 
beautifully located, is known the world over, and is to-day actually the focal point, 
commercially and politically, of all eastern Canada and, to some extent, of New- 
foundland. It is the largest city in the Maritime Provinces, yet none too large for 
supplying indispensable clinical facilities; and for all the broader relations which 
a university centre would be expected to maintain, a better location could scarcely 
be found. 

The objection on the grounds of moral conditions in Halifax unquestionably has 
some validity, precisely as the same consideration may be urged in the cases of Boston, 
Providence, New Haven, New York, Montreal, or Toronto. It has probably been 
somewhat exaggerated in the case of Halifax, inasmuch as it furnishes such an appeal- 
ing argument in favor of the small-town college. Experience in the United States 
leads one to believe that the influences to which a student is subjected depend more 
upon the internal morale of the institution itself than on its urban or rural environ- 
ment. The reputation for "toughness" enjoyed by certain colleges located in rural 
districts seems ineradicable, while some city institutions have an enviable record. The 
objection, therefore, seems hardly to possess serious weight as a determining con- 
sideration. 

The fundamental weakness of this second plan is evident, however, and would be 
most unfortunate in the working out. Ignoring all other institutions and their sup- 
porting religious bodies or provincial constituencies, such a course would magnify 
one of the number, actually quite undenominational, but for reasons already stated, 
classed by the public as Presbyterian, and until very recently considered as simply 
one of a group of similar colleges. Not only would the support of the provincial public 



CONFEDERATION 35 

at large not be generally secured : much of it would be definitely alienated for a long 
period of time in the efforts to keep up competition, and the growth of the larger 
institution would be by so much the more retarded and difficult. 

Furthermore, Dalhousie University is less representative of the Maritime Prov- 
inces as a whole than any of the others; its patronage is more largely confined to Nova 
Scotia and to the immediate vicinity of Halifax. Its enlargement, therefore, would 
run the greater risk of misinterpretation as municipal aggrandizement for Halifax 
and of the consequent jealousy of country against the city, and certainly of the other 
provinces as against Nova Scotia. This ought particularly to be avoided. The city 
that happens to be the beneficiary of a real solution of the educational problem of 
the three provinces should be made to feel its position as the debtor and servant of 
the rest rather than pose as a "winner." 

3. Confederation 

The third plan involves a complete reconstruction, and the use of funds, not to 
strengthen one institution at the expense of others, but to bring together into one 
new organization at Halifax several institutions with their endowments and equip- 
ment. 

There can be no doubt that this plan, if it can be accomplished, is both in prin- 
ciple and in all practical respects by far the wisest course to follow. Such a result 
would unify the support of the entire population behind an association which, while 
achieving every important result of educational unity and excellence, would not only 
permit but encourage the variety and wholesome rivalry at present characteristic of 
the different groups, and would make full use of the admirable moral contributions 
for which they are now justly distinguished. 

At the same time the total result of such a combination would at best give but a 
fair-sized organization, even in case all the institutions named were to participate. 
The arts college and the five or six professional schools might together number 1600 
students — a small university in modem terms, which should allay all fears that "small 
college" excellence was being sacrificed to "mere bigness." Furthermore, the popula- 
tion which would feed the institution is clearly limited, and would not justify expec- 
tations for a large university, however celebrated it might become. Add to this the 
distribution of a thousand arts students among five distinct colleges, as described 
below, and one arrives at a setting wherein quality rather than size must be the factor 
on which a wide future reputation may rest. 

Several general considerations favor the main idea of this proposal apart from its 
inherent educational desirability. There can be no doubt that to afford centralized 
educational opportunities for the people of the provinces was the chief motive in 
Lord Dalhousie's mind in establishing Dalhousie University in 1818 as a protest 
against the denominational exclusiveness of King's College. On repeated occasions 
since that date serious attempts have been made to amalgamate these two institutions. 



36 A SUITABLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

Altho the weight of opinion on both sides has generally appeared to be in favor of 
the union, some mischance has blocked the merger. On these occasions Dalhousie has 
figured as the prospective host, and has offered such generous terms of participation 
that, as was discovered by repeated interviews, the college has actually educated her 
alumni and friends to the unselfish and far-sighted view that Dalhousie would undergo 
almost any sacrifice of prestige, control, and even of name, if thereby the educa- 
tional facilities of the province could be placed upon a permanently satisfactory and 
well-ordered foundation. 

So far as could be unofficially discovered, the attitude of the college — board of 
governors, faculty, and alumni — is the same to-day. Moreover, this periodic agita- 
tion throughout the history of the province has kept steadily before all educational 
institutions the obvious merits of cooperation and, where possible, of consolidation. 
This attitude of mind bore fruit in 1907, when, as has been related, the colleges 
agreed upon a common pre-engineering course, and abandoned further operations 
in that field to the Nova Scotia Technical College. 

Another stimulus to sentiment favorable to combination has been the similar solu- 
tions worked out both at Toronto and Manitoba. These successful illustrations of 
cooperation are familiar everywhere in the Maritime Provinces, and are frequently 
cited — usually with regret that something of the kind has not been brought about 
there where it is admitted that, in their present state, some of the institutions are 
having a painful struggle for existence. 

Still another favorable factor is the prospective denominational union already 
referred to between the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists. As Mt. 
Allison conducts a school of theology, a merger of the religious bodies would make 
it natural to combine this school with Presbyterian College now affiliated with Dal- 
housie. And even should the denominations not combine, a joint theological faculty 
such as operates at McGill University could probably be arranged to the satisfaction 
of both groups. 

General Procedure in Carrying Out this Plan 

A successful organization for carrying out the proposed combination could prob- 
ably be effected in more than one way. A detailed program would require the careful 
consideration of all the interests involved from many points of view. It is clearly not 
the function of this study to present such a program. It is desirable, however, that 
at least one plan of procedure be indicated with sufficient definiteness to show that 
the undertaking is practicable and convenient. The plan of action outlined below 
is suggested, therefore, with the understanding that it is wholly provisional. Simple 
as the idea is, there are few precedents by which one may be guided, and practically 
all features should be subject to revision and adjustment by negotiation among the 
institutions. 

By way of preface it should be said that much might conceivably be accomplished 



GENERAL PROCEDURE IN CONFEDERATION 37 

thru the initial action of Dalhousie University. Were this institution to take care- 
ful thought in working out attractive terms whereby other colleges could associate 
themselves with her, the development might ensue more naturally than by the revo- 
lutionary process implied in the plan which follows. This would be the natural course 
in case but one or two colleges should unite. If all of the institutions should under- 
take to federate, a reorganization would undoubtedly be the simplest procedure. 
What follows is offered in view of the latter possibility. 

A new university organization might be erected that would constitute the central 
body of common interests with which confederation or affiliation of semi-independ- 
ent institutions might be effected. So far as any existing institutions are concerned, 
this new entity should consist in an association on equal terms of the higher educa- 
tional interests of the five prominent religious groups, together with persons quali- 
fied to act in behalf of the public at large, and it should be prepared to admit the 
institutional representative of any other acceptable body that might prove capable 
of maintaining a satisfactory collegiate organization. 

The name of this new association would depend on circumstances. Should all of 
the component institutions propose to maintain themselves as coordinate colleges, 
the central unifying body might be termed the "University of the Maritime Prov- 
inces," or assume some name equally representative of eastern Canada. 

The constituent elements of the new university would be the university itself, in 
its strictly university capacity, and presumably the following colleges : Acadia, Dal- 
housie, King's, Mt. Allison, New Brunswick, and St. Francis Xavier's, each represent- 
ing the university now bearing that name. The inclusion of Dalhousie as a college 
in this group would rest upon the assumption that it would represent the Presby- 
terians. This would scarcely accord either with the history or the present status of 
Dalhousie, and a different arrangement whereby Presbyterian College should assume 
that function might prove desirable. After the salient features of the plan have been 
pointed out, the question of Dalhousie's part therein, and also that of the University 
of New Brunswick, will be discussed more fully. 

For the purposes of confederation in a firm and effective union the authorities of 
each constituent college should agree (1) during the period of confederation to hold 
in abeyance the degree-granting powers of that college except in theology, allowing 
this prerogative only to the university acting in behalf of the entire group, altho the 
name of the college as well as that of the university might appear on the diploma; 
(2) to cooperate in every possible manner whereby the facilities and instruction offered 
by each college may be suitably chosen, and may be placed at the disposal of all the 
others, to the end that superior instruction may be economically administered for 
the advantage of all concerned. 

The government of the new university might be vested in a board of governors 
consisting of the president of the university ex officio and seventeen persons not 
otherwise connected with the university. The board of governors of each of the con- 



38 A SUITABLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

stituent colleges representing a religious denomination should name one member. 
The remaining twelve members should be named on invitation in the charter: five 
by the associated alumni of all the colleges, three by the Lieutenant-Governor-in- 
Council of Nova Scotia, two by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council of New Bruns- 
wick, one by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council of Prince Edward Island, and one 
by the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Newfoundland. The initial member- 
ship might be the choice of a special committee, to serve until the provinces should 
take official action both in the selection of representatives and in the support of the 
university. In event of failure of any of the foregoing authorities to act, the choice 
should devolve upon the board itself as constituted at the time the vacancy occurs, 
and it should make its selection from the various provinces as indicated above. 

The board of governors of Dalhousie University should relinquish to the board 
of governors of the new university all rights, title, and control in the professional 
schools now conducted by Dalhousie University, together with such endowments, the 
income of which has hitherto been devoted to their support. It should also relinquish 
similarly all right and title in all of its buildings and property except the two dor- 
mitories. On the other hand, the respective colleges represented by their existing 
boards of governors should retain in full their present endowments, and such property 
as they may possess or acquire for use as student residences, chapels, or for instruction 
in such subjects as may be arranged with the university. All library facilities and 
valuable apparatus for instruction in university subjects should, of course, be turned 
over to the university for joint use. 

It should be the duty of the board of governors of the university to provide for 
and administer the finances and all the property and physical equipment of the uni- 
versity; to appoint all administrative officers, all professors and other teachers in the 
university faculties, and all employees necessary for the operation or maintenance 
of the university; to confirm the appointment of collegiate appointees giving in- 
struction in more than one college of the university ; to fix a schedule of academic 
titles and of uniform minimum salaries for all faculties and departments both of the 
colleges and of the university; to act on the proposal of the university senate to es- 
tablish, reorganize, or eliminate such faculties and departments in the university as 
may seem desirable, subject to its understanding with the several colleges; to provide 
for the confederation or affiliation of other schools or colleges ; to fix all charges for 
tuition and all fees payable by students in the university or by students receiving 
instruction in more than one college. 

It should be the duty of the board of governors of the respective colleges, in ad- 
dition to their responsibilities in connection with their local secondary institutions, 
to hold and administer all endowments and other property of their colleges at Hali- 
fax; to appoint all administrative officers, professors, and other teachers, and all 
necessary employees of the college, subject only to confirmation by the board of gov- 
ernors of the university in the case of such teachers as may give instruction also to 



GENERAL PROCEDURE IN CONFEDERATION 39 

students from or in other colleges; thru the faculty and administrative officers of 
the college fully to control and regulate the activities, discipline, and residential life 
of all students enrolled in the college ; to promote the purposes of the common uni- 
versity organization by studying its general operation and making representations 
to the university board for improvements, by increasing collegiate endowments and 
equipment both for its own and for the general good, and by ensuring for the col- 
lege the moral support throughout the Maritime Provinces of the religious denomi- 
nation represented. 

There should be an executive council at the head of the academic administration. 
It should consist of the president of the university, the deans of the several faculties, 
and the presidents of the constituent colleges. 

There should be a university senate consisting of the president, the heads of col- 
leges, the deans of the several faculties, and of all such teachers in each faculty as 
enjoy full professorial rank. This body should deal with all questions of general aca- 
demic policy, with the approval and granting of all degrees, with the establishment 
of new faculties or departments, and with such other questions concerning the welfare 
of the university as may be referred to it by the board, or presented by any of the 
faculties. 

The legislative authority of the first instance should be the faculty, consisting in 
each case of the entire professorial staff of the particular faculty in question, whether 
of arts, of dentistry, of medicine, of law, or of pharmacy. It should be presided over by 
the president of the university. Lecturers and instructors should be members of their 
appropriate faculties, but without votes. 

The faculty of arts, under this plan, would consist of two groups of persons: first, 
those appointed and supported by the university; and second, those appointed and 
supported by the several federating colleges. However, with the exception of this 
distinction in the matter of appointment, support, and responsibility, these two 
groups should coalesce perfectly in one faculty organization. The president of the 
university, the dean of the faculty of arts, and the presidents of the constituent col- 
leges should compose the council of the faculty of arts by which matters should be 
prepared for reference to the faculty for action, and to which matters might be re- 
ferred by faculty action for further investigation or for execution. 

The subjects of instruction to be offered in the faculty of arts should be divided 
into three groups. In the first group should be placed such subjects as are definitely and 
permanently to be allocated to the colleges, and to be taught by college appointees 
who are approved by the university in case they give instruction also to students of 
other colleges. Such might well be English, French, German, Greek, history, Latin, 
and philosophy (except psychology and education). In the second group should be 
listed such subjects as are definitely to be regarded as university subjects: for exam- 
ple, astronomy, biology, chemistry, education, geology, physics, and psychology. These 
would be taught by university appointees at university expense. A third group would 



40 A SUITABLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

consist of such subjects as might be offered by instructors appointed either by the 
colleges or by the university, and would include mathematics, the social sciences, the 
less familiar languages, and so forth. 

Owing to the unequal distribution of funds among the colleges themselves, and be- 
tween the colleges and the university proper, the actual allocation of certain depart- 
ments of instruction could be determined only by conditions as they might develop, 
and would be subject to change. At the outset the resources of the colleges would 
probably be considerably in excess of those of the university. They would therefore 
support a proportionately large amount of the instruction. As the university acquired 
either endowment or additional income from the provinces, more of the instruction 
could be taken over by its appointees, and the colleges be by so much relieved. 

It would be desirable that each college be able to provide most of the instruction 
for its own freshmen within its own walls. In the junior and senior years, on the con- 
trary, the limited enrolment in each college would make it indispensable that prac- 
tically all courses, certainly all honors courses, be jointly administered, and that each 
college adopt a limited field in which its own resources would count to the best advan- 
tage for the service of the entire group. Thus Mt. Allison, for example, while having 
perhaps one freshman subject taught by a person with the rank of instructor, would 
have assistant or associate professors for the freshman classes in several subjects, altho 
it might support teachers of full professorial rank only in two or three. Other col- 
leges would specialize in other departments, so that somewhere on the campus, either 
provided by a college or supported by the university, a student could be sure of find- 
ing the varied offering of a genuine university presented in an adequate manner. The 
sophomore year would furnish a natural transition from this largely intra-mural col- 
legiate regime of the first year to the largely extra-mural organization of the later 
years. 

The means for securing this constant interchange of service, not only between the 
colleges and the university, but between the colleges themselves, must rest with the 
faculty of arts as a whole, in which the greatest possible solidarity of feeling and 
action should be sought. The faculty as a whole would, of course, be responsible for the 
standards and procedure in all examinations for credit counting toward a university 
degree, and would exercise the same careful supervision over the entire curriculum. 

Those who are familiar with the confederation plan as it operates at the Univer- 
sity of Toronto will observe a marked difference between that system and the scheme 
here set forth. There a great central provincial university bears the chief burden of 
expense. The colleges, each teaching a few subjects only and retaining all the stu- 
dent fees, have attached themselves, not all at one time, but one by one at various 
dates, to the central body. There has been comparatively little interchange of work 
between the colleges because of their independent organization and traditions, altho 
the curriculum is supervised with scrupulous care by joint faculty action. Then, too, 
the qualifications and compensation of instructors are regulated by each college for 



GENERAL PROCEDURE IN CONFEDERATION 41 

itself. The university and university college have always paid better salaries than 
the other colleges, often appointing men from other collegiate staffs. Such conditions 
are a barrier to prompt and even interchange of instruction where small classes, espe- 
cially in honors courses, would make an interchange very profitable. Moreover, in the 
desire to leave each college as free as possible from what might be considered to be 
interference, no agency has been devised to require or even suggest coordinated action; 
it is left wholly to departmental initiative, and depends largely upon the personal 
relations existing within the department concerned. 

It is clear that the situation in the Maritime Provinces is wholly different. Here, 
altho the provinces will doubtless aid, no provincial university exists. Another policy 
must control, therefore, at least at the outset, if a group of small and comparatively 
weak colleges are to unite for the purpose of economy and efficiency in offering a 
high grade of instruction. It is indispensable that the faculty of arts, shared as it 
would be by several different colleges, should be a unit in action for the purpose of 
securing sound results. For this reason a uniform minimum salary schedule effective 
for all grades of instruction in all colleges, as well as in the university, is a sine qua 
non. With such a basis of personnel, committees of the faculty, or the council of the 
faculty of arts, could, with intelligence and good will, easily work out an acceptable 
scheme of joint operation that would use the resources of each college and of the 
university to the utmost at a common standard of excellence. Without this provision 
one college or another might readily attempt to cover a wide field with many ill-paid 
teachers and bring the whole undertaking into disrepute. 

As has been suggested in citing the practice at Toronto, the contemplated arrange- 
ment would prove particularly effective in handling a genuine honors curriculum. 
This is one of the precious features of English and Canadian universities that should 
constantly be held uppermost in planning new departures in higher education. With- 
out the means for making this aspect of the work successful in paramount fashion a 
small university organization would be weak indeed. 

It will be observed that the suggested arrangement of studies leaves each college 
free to offer privately, for its own group, what courses it will. These would presum- 
ably be special courses in religion or theology, and in these departments each college 
would retain its original degree-conferring power. 

The fact that a well-financed provincial university, which is the main feature of 
the Toronto plan, does not as yet exist in the Maritime Provinces would necessitate 
somewhat different financial arrangements if a group of colleges were to come together 
there. The colleges themselves would scarcely be so well endowed as to admit of sac- 
rificing any considerable portion of their funds to a central institution. It would be 
of great importance, however, that the central organization should take on form and 
weight as soon as possible in order that its support of the professional schools, and 
of the more expensive forms of instruction in the college of arts, might be ample 
and convincing. 



42 A SUITABLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

To assist in this development, all student fees for tuition or incidentals should 
probably be collected by the university. To these would be added such payments as 
might arise from annual appropriations out of public funds, together with income 
from the endowments already accumulating for the professional schools. Further 
endowments from public or private sources would very properly be expected. 

By this arrangement the colleges would be confined to their endowments for operat- 
ing revenue. This would always be fixed and predictable in amount, and would mea- 
sure exactly the extent to which a particular college could participate in the general 
enterprise. Residence halls would be conducted at some slight profit, and expenses for 
fuel, light, and service in a limited establishment would be comparatively small, these 
obligations falling more heavily upon the university. Costs of collegiate administra- 
tion should be much reduced. Here, too, the university would bear the major load. 
Enrolment being of no immediate concern, collegiate presidents, from being general 
business promoters and drummers-up of students, could resume their proper task 
— the education of their charges, and the old-time teaching college-president would 
return. The bulk of collegiate endowment would therefore be invested directly in 
teachers on a standard scale of minimum salaries, uniform for all colleges. The com- 
pensation of this group could go as far above the minimum as desired, and the real 
emulation between college and college would consist in the relative quality of the 
staffs which they maintained. 

Effect of the Plan on Student Organization 

Pursuant to this plan of combination, each of the several colleges would erect at 
Halifax, on or near the new university campus, one or more student residences and a 
suite of classrooms, either separate or attached to the residence and including a chapel 
or small auditorium. Here the students of that group would be housed in intimate 
personal contact with one another and with several resident instructors or professors 
whom they would meet at least in freshman subjects; in subsequent years they would 
meet instructors in other collegiate faculties as well, and in the subjects taught only 
by the university, they would meet members of the university faculty, as already ex- 
plained. Dalhousie College, or its equivalent, would be organized in the same fashion 
as the others; consequently every student in arts and sciences would be enrolled in 
one of the colleges, and would remain there until graduation, unless he should earlier 
enter one of the professional schools. 

This plan of student organization is nothing but an adaptation of the English 
system, and is essentially the plan that is partially in operation in Toronto. It is 
suggested likewise by the present arrangements of Dalhousie with Presbyterian Col- 
lege, which have been already described. The great advantage of the scheme is that 
it breaks up an otherwise unwieldy mass of students into coherent groups with an in- 
ternal organization, leadership, and loyalty of their own. In the huge institutions of 
the United States the student is completely adrift and unattached from the begin- 



CONFEDERATION IN NOVA SCOTIA 43 

ning of his course, save for the formal ties that connect him with the registrar, the 
bursar, or the dean. Hence the demand for the "small college," where the group is 
restricted and faculty contact is more effective. Hence, also, the attempt to bring 
together certain classes within the great universities, as in the freshman and senior 
dormitories at Harvard; or to provide intimate personal relationships, as in the pre- 
ceptorial system at Princeton. In every large institution this problem is acute, and 
nowhere in America has a completely satisfactory solution been worked out. 

The underlying basis of the division proposed would be denominational, but there 
would be no religious tests or restrictions, either for students or for teachers, beyond 
those at present found in the several colleges, while the religious background would 
undoubtedly supply a general atmosphere that would be far more wholesome than 
the bare dormitory or boarding-house life of most large colleges. This is the best 
answer to those who object to the evils of a city for young college students; the plan 
suggested would enrol the student in what would be virtually a high-minded college 
fraternity, where the influences would be predominantly line. 

It is doubtful whether there is any other basis of differentiation that would be 
nearly as successful, especially in Canada, and in this portion of Canada, as the re- 
ligious cleavage of the various denominations. The English colleges have come up as 
natural growths thru generations of history, which have given each college its peculiar 
traditions. To divide students arbitrarily or on the basis of their curricula and trust 
to time to breed traditions has not proved especially successful where it has been 
tried. But the denominational appeal is genuine, and is rooted in the family tradi- 
tions of each student, while containing nothing to conflict with a sound education 
suitable for all. Indeed, this compatibility is so plain and so prized by the colleges 
that, as one goes about among them, it is especially pointed out how many students 
and faculty members there are of other denominations than that by which the par- 
ticular college is supported. 

It is probably necessary, however, that segregation on this basis be supplemented 
by a definite organization and a body of instructors. Wesley College, Winnipeg, 
attempted for a time to dispense with its own instructors except for theology, and 
to depend wholly on the University of Manitoba, but it was soon threatened with 
extinction, and returned to the other policy. On the other hand, Presbyterian Col- 
lege at Halifax has performed an admirable service for many years with little more, 
besides theology, than its college residence. 

Relation of the Present Institutions to Confederation 

The hospitable attitude of Dalhousie University toward the general principle of 
the suggested reorganization has already been noted. In spite of the extraordinary 
sacrifice involved, that institution appears inclined to abide by its long-established 
principles and to place itself at the disposal of a joint enterprise, even tho it be rele- 
gated to a much restricted status. 



44 A SUITABLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

The practical working out of the plan, however, might involve a Dalhousie, thus 
reduced in scope solely to a college, in serious difficulties. It would be the expecta- 
tion of each associated college to build itself up thru appeal to its own religious con- 
stituency, and the needs of the university would attract the gifts of those who might 
prefer to assist all alike, without denominational preference. Now the Presbyterians 
of the provinces have never been pledged to the support of Dalhousie University, 
which, in spite of occasional apparent lapses, has stood throughout a century com- 
mitted to an undenominational form of education. The Presbyterian body might con- 
ceivably prefer under the new conditions to revive in their own Presbyterian College 
which they now support, the arts instruction abandoned in 1863, and to federate 
it with the new organization. The equipment for such a purpose is already in full 
operation at Pine Hill. Or in case the proposed denominational union is soon achieved, 
both the Presbyterians and the Methodists would naturally concentrate their support 
on Mt. Allison. 

Either of these events would leave Dalhousie without a constituency in case the 
other institutions came into the agreement. It might thrive for a time because of the 
loyalty of its alumni and the attendance of students who were either without denom- 
inational affiliation, or whose church was not represented in the collegiate group. 
But as the other colleges grew, it might be — indeed, would naturally be — seriously 
undermined. Such a fate would not only be distressing to Dalhousie students and 
alumni; it would be regretted by all patriotic Canadians who have taken a just pride 
in the national and international distinction that this old college has won. 

The alternative that suggests itself may or may not appeal to the desires of those 
most concerned; to an outside observer it would appear appropriate. If, in order 
to make possible a successful university development in the provinces which it has 
faithfully served, Dalhousie University, as it exists at present, is willing to give up 
grounds, buildings, and financial resources to a completely reconstituted government, 
representative of other institutions and of the public at large, it would seem to be 
eminently fitting that at least the old name be preserved as a memorial of past 
achievement. Dalhousie as a college may prefer to disappear completely in the new 
order, allowing the strictly collegiate organization of the undergraduate body to 
devolve upon those institutions whose supporters can pledge their continued main- 
tenance. In that case it would be a well-deserved tribute if the distinctive university 
structure that may be created should bear the Dalhousie name, representing as it 
would that common service to all for which in principle Dalhousie College was origi- 
nally established. 

At the other institutions it is, of course, impossible to predict what action would 
be taken were the matter formally to come before the college authorities. Judging 
from impressions gathered during the visits made, the proposal would everywhere re- 
ceive careful and sympathetic study, and would be determined by generous motives 
seeking the good of the whole rather than that solely of the particular group. 



CONFEDERATION IN NOVA SCOTIA 45 

There probably has been no time in the past when the physical situation at the 
different colleges was more favorable than now to some radical change. At both King's 
and Acadia the main building has recently been wiped out by fire, and at Mt. Alli- 
son new buildings are imperative if the college is to thrive. At all three a laborious 
campaign for funds must be carried on before the needs can be met, yet King's and 
Mt. Allison have just appealed to their constituencies with the result that little more 
would probably be forthcoming for their present objectives. On the other hand, St. 
Francis Xavier's has raised half a million in small amounts without much difficulty, 
and could probably find as much more; and the prospects for Acadia's expected effort 
to raise a million are bright. "Whatever the results of these devoted struggles, the in- 
stitutions remain relatively the same after as before; the road they are traveling is 
interminable. 

The organization of the four outlying colleges, which under present circumstances 
is so plainly detrimental to true collegiate work, is an asset rather than otherwise 
when a removal of the collegiate department is contemplated. The academies and 
"Ladies' Seminaries " are flourishing, and would at once find great advantage in pos- 
session of the college buildings and equipment. Moreover, most of these schools are 
profitable financially, and could afford to pay the colleges something for their former 
quarters. Their curriculum should immediately be extended to include the twelfth 
grade, which is now the freshman college year, as this in turn is made prerequisite for 
the university. 

With the wise organization of such schools in the shape of vigorous secondary 
institutes, new opportunities would appear that now find no place. There is need 
throughout the provinces for well-managed centres of elementary agriculture for stu- 
dents whom the central agricultural college cannot reach. These schools all have 
farms, and could do such work well. St. Francis Xavier's, at Antigonish, has proved 
the feasibility of adult courses of non-collegiate grade in a variety of subjects, and 
has shown the demand for them. Institute centres like these, scattered over the 
provinces, would be admirably suited to this and other types of regional community 
education. They would be in constant and intimate contact with a first-class uni- 
versity staff' at Halifax, and the interchange of personnel in lectures and conference 
should be stimulating to both. 

Confederation would soon prove, therefore, not that the denomination had lost 
or merged its college, but that, instead of one second-rate institution of mixed char- 
acter, it now had under its control two institutions, each with a clean-cut purpose, 
and both of them first class. Because of local traditions the local institute would as 
before serve as the rallving-place for the collective life of the denomination. But as 
time went on it would take equal or greater pride in the fact that it was maintain- 
ing close at hand a genuine collegiate organization loyal to its own ideals, interests, 
and traditions, where its youth could receive an education unexcelled elsewhere in 
Canada or in the United States. 



46 A SUITABLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

For it is a fact that, so far as tried, the effect of confederation has been to stimu- 
late, clarify, and conserve the denominational ideal and vigor in its college rather 
than to weaken it. The experience of the federated colleges at Toronto has been that 
membership in an adequately supported, going concern of high standing has increased 
their vitality, their wealth, and their students, and, best of all, by eliminating the 
constant struggle for funds, has enabled them to labor freely for the ideals that sin- 
cere religion is trying to incorporate in education. 

The best reason for the existence of the denominational college lies in its endeavor 
to surround intellectual life with the high aspirations and illuminated motives that 
true religion is capable of generating. What greater wisdom, then, than for a group 
of such colleges to place themselves in a position to combine this service with an edu- 
cation of unquestionable breadth and character? 

Nova Scotia Technical College 

In event of combination at Halifax, it would be a natural step for the provincial 
government to turn over to the new university the Nova Scotia Technical College, 
which would then become the nucleus of the college of applied science. The college 
has a commodious and well-equipped plant, and would gain by more intimate con- 
nection with its basic sciences. 



Confederation Outside of Nova Scotia 

It is a misfortune that all of the institutions which, by virtue of private endow- 
ments, could enter into such a plan as has been proposed, have been located in Nova 
Scotia or very near it, inasmuch as this fact tends to give the plan a merely provin- 
cial aspect instead of emphasizing the inter-provincial features that really exist and 
should be made conspicuous. With the exception of Dalhousie, all of the colleges in 
question draw students in considerable proportions from New Brunswick, Prince Ed- 
ward Island, and Newfoundland : Acadia, 31 per cent; King's, 29 per cent; Mt. Allison, 
35 per cent; St. Francis Xavier's, 16 per cent. Inasmuch as these are denominational 
colleges, their appeal is as broad as the denomination. The chief desideratum is not 
that the college be close by, but that it offer a good education under moral and reli- 
gious conditions acceptable to members of the church in question. 

The only institution of collegiate standing in New Brunswick, besides Mt. Allison 
and the Catholic colleges at Memramcook and at Chatham, is the University of New 
Brunswick at Fredericton. This institution has had a long history and has filled an 
honorable place in the life of its province. It is to-day purely a tax-supported under- 
taking, maintaining a four-year school of engineering nearly as large as its college, 
and a school of forestry perhaps one-third as large; all three departments number 
175 students. 

The work in forestry which is given at the University of New Brunswick is availa- 



CONFEDERATION OUTSIDE OF NOVA SCOTIA 47 

ble in only two other provinces in Canada — Ontario and British Columbia — and is 
peculiarly appropriate to a community depending so largely upon wood products. This 
should, if possible, be preserved and continued. There would seem, however, to be no 
good reason why curricula in the expensive field of engineering should be maintained, 
when far better facilities are already available both at Montreal and at Halifax, and 
when the demand for engineers within the province must inevitably be exceedingly 
small. 

In view of the proposed concentration of effort on a single good institution within 
reasonable reach of the larger portion of the population, leaders of education in New 
Brunswick might consider whether certain changes would not be advisable. The situ- 
ation is precisely the same as that confronting any one of the small colleges in Nova 
Scotia; a good collegiate and professional education cannot be provided for so few 
students at a reasonable cost. The first two inexpensive years of college studies, in- 
cluding work in agriculture, with an advanced course in forestry, and offering instruc- 
tion in household economics and the preparation of teachers, could be profitably 
managed, and would be well adapted to the needs of the province. The Dominion 
Agricultural Experiment Station near Fredericton might perhaps be made use of 
under these conditions. 

Having thus set up a substantial preliminary training, the province could proceed 
to cooperate, with respect to the advanced years of the curriculum at least, in the 
joint movement to give eastern Canada a university of which it can be proud. The 
precise form that this cooperation might assume would be a proper matter for nego- 
tiation. The University of New Brunswick is an undenominational institution like 
Dalhousie. In addition to that, it alone of the Maritime institutions represents the 
principle of state support which must be increasingly recognized if the prospective 
organization is to thrive and grow strong. 

It is difficult to see how, without endowments and a private corporate existence, 
such an organization could be transplanted, and take a place among the other col- 
leges on the plan already suggested. And were it to do so, it would immediately find 
itself at the same disadvantage as has been noted in the case of Dalhousie: it would 
have no body of supporters to which it could logically appeal. 

With the proposed university, however, as distinct from the colleges, the Univer- 
sity of New Brunswick would have much in common. In several instances the prov- 
inces concerned have already cooperated for the joint support of professional educa- 
tion, and there is no reason to suppose that a way could not readily be found whereby 
they could unite in building up a central university in which each should have a 
direct and vital interest. In view of the varied relationships involved, the framing of 
such an arrangement could best be accomplished by negotiation. 

Prince Edward Island presents a comparatively simple situation educationally, and 
sentiment for a good central university close at hand should be strong. Prince of 
Wales College is doing a careful and thorough work in its secondary field, and its 



48 A SUITABLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

selected students are among the best wherever they go. St. Dunstan's College, like 
St. Mary's in Halifax, would naturally throw its lot in with St. Francis Xavier's in set- 
ting up a high-grade Catholic college in connection with the university at Halifax. 
What it might well undertake locally is precisely the work suggested for the "insti- 
tutes " in Nova Scotia. St. Dunstan's has a magnificent farm on which, in such a com- 
munity, agricultural courses should long since have been flourishing. This and other 
forms of practical community service simply await skilful organization to stir from its 
apparent torpor the population of one of the most beautiful spots in the north. 

There is reason to believe that the plan of confederation would at least help to 
solve the problem of higher education for Newfoundland. St. John's is in closer com- 
munication with Halifax by water (40 hours) than with any other important centre, 
and should really form a part of the same educational community. Its population of 
about 250,000 is made up of the same races, and includes large bodies of Catholics, 
Anglicans, and Methodists, who are in more or less constant contact with their co- 
religionists in the provinces. A strong university at Halifax would attract many 
students from Newfoundland, especially if good relations were maintained by having 
representatives on the board of governors as suggested. Supplemented by an efficient 
junior college at St. John's giving well-organized courses thru two years in advance 
of the twelfth grade, it would furnish this remote population the best of service. 

Financing a Plan of Confederation 

The question of funds naturally conditions every term of such a proposition as has 
here been set forth. It costs money to move. And even tho the colleges, by pooling 
their resources, could doubtless provide a better joint institution than is possible for 
any one of them separately, advantage should be taken of a projected union to fix 
a scale of performance that is within measurable distance of the ultimate goal. This 
likewise costs money. At the same time it must be recognized that a proposal such 
as the present one has fair claims on provincial resources that are not available to 
any other. It offers a complete and adequate solution of the problem of higher edu- 
cation for the three provinces. The institution that it sets up should represent the 
united educational ambitions of all the people of eastern Canada, including, so far as 
possible, the French-speaking portion of the population. It should therefore properly 
expect their sympathetic and enthusiastic support both in official and unofficial form. 
Public endowments and appropriations, properly denied to any of the existing institu- 
tions, would be eminently appropriate for a great, common, educational movement 
like this. No finer object for a special Dominion subsidy or endowment, to which the 
provinces feel themselves to be justly entitled, could be proposed than a high grade 
eastern university. With these facts in mind, a brief consideration of the financial 
aspect of the enterprise may be attempted. 

The expense involved in setting up each college comfortably in Halifax can only 
be approximated. One or two could perhaps be satisfactorily accommodated on the 



FINANCING A PLAN OF CONFEDERATION 49 

unoccupied portion of the present university campus. Dalhousie itself would be 
obliged to build like the rest. Additional land would be required, and should be 
added on a scale befitting the future of the new organization. The city of Halifax 
would certainly be glad of this and other opportunities to share in a development 
that would inevitably mean a significant contribution to its own municipal character 
and welfare. 

In regard to buildings, each college would expect to look ahead in initiating its 
plans, while building so much now as would serve its present needs. Each should 
eventually have its own campus, its men's residence, its women's residence, its college 
hall, its chapel, its collegiate library, its refectory, and so forth. For the time being 
these facilities could be combined into a group that might later serve a different pur- 
pose, but which in any event would form a worthy part of the completed establish- 
ment. To coordinate these with reference to one another and with reference to the 
university proper, as to location, grouping, and architecture, would demand attentive 
study. 

It is probable that a satisfactory combination men's residence, class hall, and small 
chapel could be constructed for $400,000, to be followed later by provision for women, 
who could for the present, except for Dalhousie's splendid new dormitory for women, 
be accommodated in neighboring private residences or in leased dwellings. For five 
colleges this would require $2,000,000. 

The collective resources of the endowed colleges have been estimated rather con- 
servatively at $2,500,000 available for work in arts and sciences. It is probable that 
practically all of this could be made available for the new undertaking on the terms 
of ownership and participation outlined above. 

Retirement provision should be made for the older teachers now in all of the insti- 
tutions; salaries of the faculty should eventually be doubled; several new departments 
should be established; the arts building should be completed; and a new gymna- 
sium should be erected. With the exception of the last-mentioned, a good beginning 
could be made on this program with $2,500,000 additional funds, $2,000,000 of it to 
go into endowment. This would provide a total productive collegiate foundation of 
$4,500,000. 

The income from this sum should ensure an annual contribution from the col- 
leges of approximately $250,000, part of which would of course be used for their 
own administration, but the bulk of which would apply on instruction available for 
all. The university, for its part, would receive from fees of students perhaps $75,000, 
if its membership in arts were to reach a total of 1000 students, or somewhat less 
than the present total attendance at all of the constituent colleges. Aside from this 
it would appear reasonable to count at the outset on not less than $100,000 of public 
monies annually appropriated by the several provinces. This sum would presumably 
be divided in proportion respectively to the number of students from each province 
to be found at Halifax. As provincial support increased, the tuition per student might 



50 A SUITABLE EDUCATIONAL POLICY 

be reduced. At Toronto the present charge is from $40 to $50 per year as compared 
to the $75 to $100 fee familiar in the Maritime Provinces. 

All told, therefore, according to this calculation, the new institution would appear 
to have available annually some $425,000, not counting the income from its endow- 
ments for the professional schools or its fees from the professional students. Under 
the present or already assured conditions these would add $106,000 more, — $36,000 
from endowment and $70,000 from fees, — thus bringing the gross annual income to 
over $530,000. Such a sum, tho by no means large, could, if well managed, introduce 
a university of this size — 1400 to 1600 students — into the first rank among the insti- 
tutions of North America. 

The total amount of fresh funds needed, therefore, to set the new institution suc- 
cessfully on its way is in the neighborhood of $4,500,000. Considering what the Mari- 
time Provinces themselves could do if aroused by a clear vision of the significance 
to them of such a plan, and considering the force with which the prospect of a gen- 
uine and constructive solution of their problem would appeal to their compatriots 
in Canada and to their friends in the United States, this sum would appear neither 
unreasonable nor particularly difficult of attainment. 

In conclusion it may be pointed out that interest in the proposals that have been 
made need not be based solely on the advantage that would accrue to the Maritime 
Provinces, or even to Canada as a whole. If undertaken and successfully carried thru, 
the plan would indeed resolve in a brilliant manner the last of Canada's difficult sit- 
uations in higher education. But it would do far more. It would accomplish under 
singularly favorable conditions a unique and widely important service to education. 
The problem of the profitable use and development of the small denominational col- 
lege, the question of how successfully to combine the use of private and public funds 
for education, and especially the very serious and difficult problem of the suitable 
organization of student life under modern university conditions would here profit by 
an illuminating experiment almost certain to succeed. A plan already suggested and 
partially applied at Toronto, but worked out at Halifax in thoroughgoing fashion, 
as the product of a general reorganization, could accomplish many improvements and 
serve as a model appropriate to many existing American situations. As a contribu- 
tion to our knowledge of successful educational practice alone, the plan would seem 
well worth while. 



